WA/ACEP NEWS
ED Docs Sue State Over Medicaid Limits
(10/10/11) WA/ACEP filed suit in Thurston County Superior Court against the state plan that limits payment for Medicaid patients to three “non-emergency” visits to emergency departments each year. This plan classifies more than 700 diagnoses as “non-emergent” including chest pain, abdominal pain, miscarriage and breathing problems and affects all Medicaid patients, including children.
Click here to download the interview by WA/ACEP President, Dr. Stephen Anderson on FOX & Friends.
WA/ACEP Fights Back Against HCA
(09/09/11) The Washington Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians (WA/ACEP), Washington State Hospital Association (WSHA) and the Washington State Medical Association (WSMA) have met for long discussions with HCA to develop a list of diagnoses that are “non emergent” as a result of the 2011-13 Washington State budget, which included a provision to save $72 million by imposing a three-visit-per-year limit on Medicaid payments for “non-emergent” visits to the ER.
The state has rejected the list that the task force developed, that ensures patient safety, as it would not accomplish the budgeted savings. WA/ACEP has major concerns with the list of “non-emergency” conditions proposed by HCA. Many things on HCA’s proposed list are, in fact, emergencies. The organizations have sent this letter to the state expressing our concerns.
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Rapid Growth in CT Scanning in ERs Associated with Decline in Hospital Admissions
Computed tomography (CT) scans performed in the emergency department, which increased 330 percent between 1996 and 2007, may be reducing the frequency of hospitalization or transfer for emergency patients, according to a study published online yesterday in Annals of Emergency Medicine. The accompanying editorial notes that the reduction in hospitalizations is a beneficial result for both patients and the healthcare system (“National Trends in Use of Computed Tomography in the Emergency Department” and “The Hunting of the Snark”).
“Almost one-quarter of CT scans performed in the U.S are performed in ERs, in part because primary care and other physicians refer their patients there for these studies and also because we are increasingly being asked to do all the initial tests for patients in the ER before a patient is admitted to the hospital,” said lead study author Keith Kocher, MD, MPH, of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “We saw a more dramatic rise in CT use among older patients. But we also saw an associated decline in post-CT hospitalizations.”
Assessing emergency department visits from 1996 to 2007, researchers found an increase of CT use from 3.2 percent of patient visits to 13.9 percent. Rates of growth were highest for abdominal pain, flank pain, chest pain and shortness of breath, all of which can be symptoms of life-threatening emergencies.
In 1996, the rate of hospitalization following CT scan was 26 percent. By the end of the study period, 2007, that rate had dropped by more than half to 12.1 percent. Researchers found a similar pattern of declining risk of admission or transfer to intensive care units during the period. (08/12/11) |
