Newark Star-Ledger Examines Emergency Department 'Super Users,' Effect On Health Care Costs

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 17 Jul 2008 - 10:00 PDT

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The Newark Star-Ledger on Sunday examined the "largely undocumented phenomenon" of emergency department "super users," a name coined for "people who turn to the [ED] with astonishing frequency and at an astonishing cost to a health system under siege on all fronts." Researchers studying the "crisis" of overcrowded EDs in the U.S. have begun to focus on these patients and say the problem could be "solved, in large part, by focusing on just the top 1% of [ED] users," according to the Star-Ledger.

The Star-Ledger profiles Camden, N.J., which "is shaping up as a laboratory to study ways to fix this costly national problem." Jeffrey Brenner, a physician and professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey's Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, studied records from three hospitals in the Camden area and found that from 2002 to 2007, about 1% of ED and hospital users accounted for about 10% of total admissions. One Camden resident was admitted to an ED 113 times in a single year, Brenner found. Brenner said, "No one benefits when people overuse the [ED]," adding, "Not the hospitals, not the taxpayers and not the patients." He calculated that with the $46 million spent on care for these "super users" at the three hospitals combined, 50 physicians could be hired and a concierge level of medical care could be provided, or 100 nurses could be hired to provide individual care for 10 patients each, the Star-Ledger reports.

The Star-Ledger also examined efforts to address the problem by providing outreach to people who repeatedly seek ED care and helping them manage chronic conditions or enroll in public health care programs (Campbell, Newark Star-Ledger, 7/13).

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