ER utilization

A new study has concluded that more than four million emergency room visits a year are for chronic medical problems that, if treated more effectively at the primary care level, could have been avoided. And that those more than four million visits cost $8.3 billion a year. According to a new analysis performed by Premier, Inc., more than 24 million ER visits a year are by patients with six chronic medical conditions:  asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, heart failure, hypertension, and behavioral health problems.  Thirty percent of those visits, the study concluded, could have been prevented with better care [...]