Dive Brief:
- A new CDC data brief suggests that Medicaid beneficiaries are more likely to seek care in an emergency department than commercially insured patients, the uninsured or seniors on Medicare.
- More than 25% of youth enrolled in CHIP and about 40% of Medicaid-covered adults visited an ED in 2007, the CDC brief notes.
- Higher rates of disability and chronic conditions are probably contributors to greater ED use by Medicaid beneficiaries, as well as lower incomes, which may be correlated with more ED visits.
Dive Insight:
This research points up the complexity in reducing ED visits, which, if these numbers are right, clearly isn't just a matter of getting regular care for the patients involved. New models -- such as primary care medical homes and collaborative care models -- are being tested as a means of keeping the chronically ill in the care of outpatient physicians but, as research like this underscores, getting a real grip on the problem probably calls for public health efforts which will be years in the making