Frequent users are burdening ERs
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
July 16, 2008
Certain patients at emergency rooms (ER) across the country are being known as "super users"—those patients who have visited the ER frequently and cost the healthcare system an increasing amount of money each year. The Newark Star-Ledger reports that some super users visit the ER dozens to hundreds of times a year. This phenomenon is weighing heavily on patient flow throughout the hospital and adding to emergency department overcrowding.
In Camden, New Jersey, the top 1% of super users cost the healthcare system $46 million over the past five years. Researchers are focusing on this 1% of patients, examining data to see who they are and why they are so frequently visiting the ER.
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