Using the Emergency Department excessively is the fourth largest financial waste in US healthcare – it costs over $38 billion annually. Emergency departments are overwhelmed, and emergency physicians experience almost three times more burnout than other departments.
Health organizations are under increased scrutiny to lower non-emergent ER visits and implement solutions to encourage health consumers to seek the right level of care. Despite ongoing efforts and initiatives, emergency department overutilization continues to rise yearly.
Understanding and analyzing commonalities in ER utilization will enable deeper insight into how we can begin tackling this issue head-on.
Why do consumers go to the ER when it’s not an emergency?
There are many reasons why health consumers visit the ER. In more ways than not, the emergency department checks several boxes when it comes to convenience:
- It’s open 24 hours, 7 days a week.
- It offers patients immediate reassurance regarding their condition or ailment.
- Patients receive a full range of services regardless of the severity of their condition or whether or not they can afford it.
- Hospitals have financial and legal obligations to treat patients.
To deter consumers from visiting the ER, alternative care options need to become more accessible and outweigh the convenience of a visit to the ER. Shifting consumer paradigms is easier said than done, and health organizations need to adopt innovative solutions to educate and encourage patients to seek alternative care models.
Further consideration of commonalities in emergency room overutilization offers clues to designing solutions that address the why and offer insight into the how.
Commonalties in Avoidable or Unnecessary ER Visits
ER overuse is a nationwide issue with the highest prevalence among those who are uninsured or enrolled in government health programs, particularly Medicaid.
Nearly 53% of Medicaid members will have an avoidable or unnecessary ER visit this year. Those with health disparities are most likely to have an avoidable ER visit.
- being in a lower-income decile,
- unemployed,
- living in a single household,
- less than high school educational attainment,
- English speaking,
- aged 27-54 or 65+,
- limited internet access,
- divorced or widowed,
- female,
- having a disability,
- having one or more chronic conditions,
- uninsured or having public health insurance, and
- having limited or no transportation.
It is important to note that institutionalized and structural inequities cause these commonalities. Collecting data points and creating false attributions is easy; systemic racism and long-standing inequitable distribution of wealth and resources are to blame in this instance. Health organizations are taking responsibility for recreating a system in which diverse populations have greater access to the care and resources they need.
At the end of the day, health equity benefits all of us. Providing equitable opportunities for care availability and resources is foundational in lowering avoidable ER use, and understanding commonalities help address and overcome existing barriers.
The Difference Between Avoidable & Unnecessary ER Visits
There is an important distinction between the terms ‘avoidable’ and ‘unnecessary’ when it comes to the course of action and corresponding interventions needed for ED diversion.
For the purposes of this blog, avoidable ER visits are visits related to unmanaged conditions, such as diabetes or mental health/substance use disorders (MH-SUD). In fact, nearly 60% of all ER visits are from people with one or more unmanaged chronic conditions, with these individuals also having higher rates of ED recidivism.
Unnecessary ED visits are often due to a lack of accessibility and educational resources and typically account for visits that are urgent care or primary care treatable.
The top four ER diagnoses, in order, are as follows:
- Abdominal pain and digestive issues,
- Upper respiratory infections,
- Minor injuries, and
- Sprains.
Both avoidable and unnecessary ED visits require intervention; however, the methodologies and approaches vary. Healthcare isn’t one-size-fits-all, and meaningful behavior change requires personalization dependent on each consumer’s unique needs, preferences, and health status.
ER Diversion Strategies
Understanding why consumers seek care at emergency departments, coupled with commonalities in ER utilization, provides a deeper understanding of what’s needed to help support and educate consumers in seeking the right care for their health needs. The right education and support also depend on whether the ER visit is avoidable or unnecessary.
Education
Meaningful education incorporates behavioral science principles to motivate and empower behavior change. Simply telling a consumer they shouldn’t go to the ER unless they have to won’t work. Engaging with consumers in frictionless and meaningful ways requires expertise.
mPulse’s in-house instructional strategists, behavioral scientists, and health equity researchers develop cinematic streaming content experiences designed for optimal behavior change. Short-form content is designed to be relatable and educational, enabling consumers to realize the benefits of seeking alternative care.
See an example animation below.
Accessibility & Convenience
Providing personalized resources and support through frictionless calls to action will promote the utilization of better care options. Many health plans have resources available such as ride-share services and telehealth or nurse line providers for non-emergent cases. Despite these resources, utilization remains low, primarily due to a lack of awareness that they exist.
Engaging with members through an omnichannel approach, such as SMS, Email, and/or IVR, enables health organizations to meet their consumers where they’re at frictionlessly while providing accessible links to resources and support at their fingertips. When health organizations leverage innovative technology as a vehicle of communication with their consumers, engagement rates rise along with better health outcomes.
Avoidable ER Visits: Condition Management Solutions
Reducing avoidable ER visits begins with creating and maintaining meaningful relationships with health consumers. Because one size doesn’t fit all, understanding each consumer’s needs and preferences and their conditions and health status are crucial. mPulse creates individual member profiles in which each consumer’s protected data is leveraged to send tailored and relevant cadenced touchpoints. This becomes increasingly important for better condition management and medication nonadherence, accounting for billions in avoidable ER spending.
mPulse provides integrated and meaningful solutions for condition management, such as hypertension and diabetes, as well as MH-SUD and routine appointment reminders and scheduling.
Our solutions leverage an omnichannel engagement approach incorporating conversational AI and streaming content to educate and empower members to own their health while adopting healthier behaviors, including:
- eating better and exercising,
- regularly communicating with their care team, and
- taking their medications as prescribed.
Educating consumers on where to seek the right level of care and providing resources and support are critical components of ED Diversion, but understanding individual consumer health needs and support will help health organizations reduce avoidable and unnecessary ER visits.
Visit mPulse’s condition management solutions to learn more »
mPulse Case Study
One of the nation’s leading health plans partnered with mPulse to lower unnecessary ER visits and redirect members to better, more affordable care options.
Goals & Execution: Automate and optimize digital communications to members using SMS text messages to redirect members identified as high-utilizers of the ER and provide meaningful messages and streaming content to redirect them to more appropriate levels of care.
A population analysis was performed to assess the intervention impact for members outreached. SMS messaging was deployed to engage and educate members to seek the right level of care for their health needs. A group of approximately 12,000 high-utilizers were enrolled in the program.
Results: 69.7% reduction in ER visits. Before outreach, there were nearly 19,000 total ER visits. Post outreach, that number decreased to under 5,700 visits. Assuming the average ER visit cost is $1,082, the program saved over $14 million in health plan and consumer savings during the program’s duration.
In Conclusion
Health organizations are uniquely positioned to engage meaningfully with their members and patients and have invested time, money, and resources into providing services conducive to bettering health outcomes.
mPulse is the leader in innovative digital engagement solutions and partners with 200+ leading health organizations to deploy over 1 billion conversations annually to inform, educate and tailor conversational engagement designed for health action across diverse populations.
To learn more about how mPulse can lower avoidable and unnecessary ER visits, lower costs, and improve health outcomes for your consumers, contact us to schedule a consultation.
