Texas Emergency Rooms and Elsewhere Levy Fees for Some Care
Came across this article on yahoo just now; talking about after an initial work up and "decision" that a patient is "not sick enough to merit ED treatment" the patient can decide to leave then or continue ED treatment for an additional upfront fee. The article brings up some pros and cons for the system.
I won't lie, initially I was pretty taken aback by this idea...at times physicians struggle with identifying how sick a patient is, now we're asking our patients to guess before they even come to the ED? Also, what if they're referred to the ED from their PCP...does the PCP they pay the fee or does it still rest with the patient?
Trying to keep an open mind about the whole thing, I was somewhat curious if anyone out there works in a system that employs this and what their thoughts were...
Came across this article on yahoo just now; talking about after an initial work up and "decision" that a patient is "not sick enough to merit ED treatment" the patient can decide to leave then or continue ED treatment for an additional upfront fee. The article brings up some pros and cons for the system.
I won't lie, initially I was pretty taken aback by this idea...at times physicians struggle with identifying how sick a patient is, now we're asking our patients to guess before they even come to the ED? Also, what if they're referred to the ED from their PCP...does the PCP they pay the fee or does it still rest with the patient?
Trying to keep an open mind about the whole thing, I was somewhat curious if anyone out there works in a system that employs this and what their thoughts were...