Question

Hospital emergency departments continue to be used as a source of primary medical care by large numbers of the community’s medically underserved population. What are the implications of this practice for the patients, and on health care costs and quality of care? What would you propose as a means to change this situation?

Answer 1

The implications of this practice to the patient are

• Lack of exact diagnosis and treating the disease  completely
• Poor doctor patient relationship
• The continuity of care is interrupted by the providers
• The quality is decreased when the patient revisits with the same complaint but to a different provider
• In these case the patient has to pay by self may times it can be costlier
• In case of Emergency co pay nearly 80% is paid on co pay basis .This can impact the financial status of the government

This situation can be changed by bringing rules in the public hospital to treat only when it is an emergent or life threatening conditions.