Dive Brief:
- Coloradans are primarily using the state's dozens of new free standing emergency departments (FSEDs) for non-life threatening conditions including sore throats, bronchitis and finger wounds, according to a new report from the Center for Improving Value in Health Care (CIVHC).
- As a result, patients are paying significantly more -- by about $400 to $800 -- for treatment of their non-emergency conditions than they would have at an urgent care facility.
- The new FSEDs -- many of which have opened in the past few years -- may be getting used inadvertently by patients who don't understand the difference from urgent care centers, or the financial implications of using them, the CIVHC said.
Dive Insight:
If FSED confusion is a growing issue, it will feed into the longtime matter of ED overuse. CDC stats recently illustrated that as of 2012, even before so many new FSEDs entered the market, ED use in the U.S. was strikingly high at an estimated 131 million visits, or a rate of 42 visits per 100 persons, at hospital-based outpatient departments, EDs, and ambulatory surgery centers.
The new CIVHC report based its findings on 2014 claims from the Colorado All Payer Claims Database and argued that due to the sudden rise of FSEDs, mixed into a healthcare landscape that includes nearby freestanding urgent care centers and in-hospital emergency departments, "it is possible for consumers to mistake an FSED for an urgent care center."
The CIVHC argued Coloradans need to be further educated about the various healthcare options. It noted state legislators have twice introduced bills aimed at increasing consumer transparency around FSEDs, and argued that although those did not pass, education is "critical" with or without legislation.