According to a September 2010 study done by RAND Corp and published in Health Affairs, an estimated $4.4 billion could be saved through a nationwide campaign to educate healthcare consumers on alternatives to Emergency Room (ER) visits--by visiting urgent care centers and retail health clinics instead. Non-emergency conditions, such as ear infections, sinusitis, bronchitis etc., -- about 17% of ER visits --can be treated at these alternative institutions. Doing so reduces both undue burden on ERs, and patients can receive faster care for cheaper costs. Treatment for Strep throat for instance can cost up to $580 at the ER as opposed to $90 at a health clinic.
The study's finding were confirmed today, after a six-month long pilot by HealthCore, an outcomes-based research subsidiary of Wellpoint. The pilot targeted 32,000 consumers in the VA market, who were given education online and through automated phone calls to use Google Maps to locate alternatives to ERs. Google Maps made it easier for those participating in the pilot to locate nearby urgent care centers and walk-in clinics. The study found that an overall reduction of ER visits by 17%, and members educated through the campaign were twice as likely to search for alternatives to ERs compared to those who didn't participate in the pilot.
According to Manish Oza, a Medical Director at Wellpoint and a ER physician, "the highest rates of avoidable ER use are among people 34 and younger--those who are less likely to have a primary care physician but more likely to be technology [savvy] consumers.... We chose to develop Google Maps in the states where our affiliated health plans are located and created online advertising because that's where people go for infomration when they're deciding whether to go to the ER or not."
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