San Diego Seeks Ways To Manage Frequent Users of Emergency Services
San Diego officials are looking into ways to reduce costs associated with emergency service "frequent fliers" -- a group of mostly homeless patients who use the 911 system and hospital emergency departments in rates disproportionate to their small numbers, U-T San Diego reports.
The San Diego Tribune article was produced by the California HealthCare Foundation's Center for Health Reporting. The center is supported by a grant from CHCF, which publishes California Healthline.
The article is part of a series on the city's push to manage frequent users of emergency services.
Background
Frequent emergency service users represent eight-hundredths of a percent of San Diego's population, but they account for more than 17% of paramedic and ambulance calls in the city.
According to the city medical director's office, 1,136 frequent emergency service users in San Diego are on pace to use emergency medical services at least six times this year and generate more than $20 million in ambulance and paramedic charges.
Many health care procedures cost three times as much in the ED as they do in other hospital settings, according to U-T San Diego.
Frequent emergency service users typically are difficult to treat because they often have chronic conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure, in addition to mental illnesses and substance misuse problems.
Meanwhile, hospitals across the U.S. rely on frequent users of emergency services to draw billions in federal reimbursements, according to San Diego Medical Director James Dunford.
He said, "There are no benchmarks or incentives to provide higher quality care" for frequent emergency service users, "only the idea that some hospitals take care of more people like this." Dunford added, "The cost is born by the taxpayers without ever taking a look at how that money could be better spent."
Addressing the Challenges
John Lozier -- executive director of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council -- said that frequent emergency service users who are homeless need "good, strong primary care that will prevent many emergencies from occurring in the first place."
Dunford said frequent emergency service users should have access to coordinated health care and housing programs. In addition, Dunford has been working to compile real-time electronic 911 records that can be used to identify frequent emergency service users by name, need and likely location (Gonzales, U-T San Diego, 3/31).
Additional Articles
Headlines and links to other articles in UT-San Diegoâs series on San Diegoâs efforts to manage frequent users of emergency services are provided below:
- "Paramedics Face Same Patients Again and Again" (Gonzales, U-T San Diego, 3/31);
- "Frequent ER Users Burden Emergency Doctors" (Gonzales, U-T San Diego, 3/31);
- "Rebuilding Lives Reduces Strains on ERs" (Gonzales, U-T San Diego, 3/31); and
- "Can a Frequent User Break the Syndrome?" (Gonzales, U-T San Diego, 3/31).
Â
Â
This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.