Patient Safety and Quality of Emergency Care

The American College of Emergency Physicians published an article on "Patient Safety and Quality of Emergency Care" which lists improvements on patient safety and quality of care.

Some key takeaways addressing the problem of holding (or "boarding") the patients who have been admitted in the emergency room suggested the following solutions:

• Move admitted patients out of the emergency department to inpatient areas
• Coordinate the discharge of hospital patients before noon
• Coordinate the scheduling of elective patients and surgical cases

Takeaways from a survey that was administered on emergency physicians' concerns were:

• Seven out of ten physicians expressed concerns about the proposed physician measures for example - overcrowding.
• Two out of three said that the measures may increase the burden on the emergency department (who are at capacity).
• More than half said cost reductions could harm the quality of care

To read the full article from ACEP, please click here: Patient Safety and Quality of Emergency Care

For additional billing and coding resources, please click here: Medical Reimbursement Billing and Coding Resources