In a recent piece for Kaiser Health News [1], Michelle Andrews discusses findings from a recent study from RAND Corporation that found that even when there is a retail clinic nearby, consumers are just as likely to go to the emergency department for low-level problems. The researchers note that up to 20 percent of emergency department visits are for low-level conditions that could be treated in retail or urgent care clinics, and moving those visits out of the emergency department could save $4 billion annually. Former HCFO grantee Ateev Mehrotra, M.D., Harvard Medical School, co-authored the study and notes that insurers may want to rethink their strategy to encourage consumers to use retail health clinics and reduce pricey emergency department visits. In Mehrotra’s HCFO-funded study [2], he and colleagues found [3] that about two-thirds of visits to retail clinics are new utilization, and only one-third are patients who otherwise would have gone to their doctor’s office. Findings from both studies were also featured in the Washington Post [4], U.S. News [5], Healthcare IT News [6], Governing [7], Daily Breeze [8], and Springfield News-Sun [9].
Links:
[1] http://khn.org/news/study-finds-nearby-retail-clinics-dont-drive-down-er-visits/
[2] http://www.hcfo.org/grants/impact-retail-clinics-overall-utilization-care
[3] http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/35/3/449.full
[4] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/even-if-a-retail-clinic-is-close-people-often-use-an-emergency-room-instead/2016/11/25/ff497c58-b026-11e6-be1c-8cec35b1ad25_story.html
[5] http://www.usnews.com/news/healthcare-of-tomorrow/articles/2016-11-18/study-nearby-retail-clinics-dont-drive-down-er-visits
[6] http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/retail-clinics-dont-drive-down-er-visits-study-finds
[7] http://www.governing.com/topics/health-human-services/khn-emergency-room-retail-clinic.html
[8] http://www.dailybreeze.com/business/20161123/nearby-retail-clinics-arent-driving-down-er-visits
[9] http://ct.moreover.com/?a=28646613221&p=1pl&v=1&x=2hrWLN7kdAtR3lPpUzxMUg
[10] http://www.hcfo.org/topics/access
[11] http://www.hcfo.org/topics/acute-care
[12] http://www.hcfo.org/topics/costs-and-cost-containment
[13] http://www.hcfo.org/topics/organization-and-supply-care