title: For success with frequent ED utilizers, take steps to understand patient needs, connect them with appropriate resources.
abstract: Through its newly created Consistent Care Program, St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids, IA, has been able to significantly reduce ED utilization among patients who have been identified as having used the ED at least 12 times in the past year. Patients who meet program criteria are automatically identified once per month. A committee of social workers, nurses, and providers then creates care plans for these individuals, so that when they present to the ED, emergency providers will have a consistent road map to follow. In one year, the program has reduced the number ED visits among frequent utilizers by one-third, saving the hospital close to $1 million. Of the original 103 patients who were first identified for the program in January of 2012, only 10 patients still meet the criteria of visiting the ED 12 times in 12 months. Administrators say that key elements of the program are case manager who can interact with the patients and their providers, a mechanism for flagging these patients when they present to the ED, and engaged providers.
mesh_terms: D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006300:Health Services Misuse / Q000191:economics / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D016519:Hospitals, Religious; D006801:Humans; D007484:Iowa; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012017:Referral and Consultation