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Did anyone else see this in ACEP's Emergency Medicine Today? For those of you in Chicago, just curious about the details of this practice. How can they send patients to local clinics without violating EMTALA?
University of Chicago to rethink proposal to redirect patients from hospital's ED.
http://links.mkt739.com/servlet/Mai...r=MTM2MzgwOTk5OQS2&j=MTExMDE5MjAyS0&mt=1&rt=0
The Chicago Tribune (3/14, Japsen, Grotto) reported that on Friday, "University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer stepped into the fray...over a controversial proposal to redirect patients from the university hospital's emergency room, announcing steps to come up with 'a better plan.'" Zimmer, "in an internal memo obtained by the Tribune," said that "a committee led by Dr. Everett Vokes, the newly appointed chairman of the department of medicine, would 'review, refine, and modify' proposals initiated by the medical center's chief executive and dean of the medical school, Dr. Jim Madara." Zimmer's action "comes amid an intense debate that has been raging inside and outside the university since its announcement last month that it would eliminate beds in the University of Chicago Medical Center emergency room and redirect some patients to other facilities in the face of rising costs and long waits for emergency treatment."
"Hospital officials said the two-year-old initiative offers patients quicker and less expensive care at neighborhood clinics, rather than having to wait for hours at University of Chicago's emergency room," the AP (3/14) reported. But, "the program came under fire by national medical associations after the" Chicago "Tribune reported last month that a 12-year-old boy bitten by a pit bull was sent away from the medical center with only a shot and painkillers." Following that incident, Nick Jouriles, MD, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, "said the hospital was trying to 'cherry pick' wealthy patients over poor." For its part, the "hospital last month said that it is eliminating emergency room beds and sending patients elsewhere because of rising costs and long waits."
Emergency physician organizations speak out against University of Chicago's ED plan. American Medical News (3/16, Hedger) reports that in February, "the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine...issued statements about a proposal to cut 30 inpatient beds at the" University of Chicago Medical Center, "including 10 of the 31" emergency department (ED) "beds. Both organizations feared that fewer ED beds may mean worse care for trauma patients." ACEP president Nick Jouriles, MD, stated, "This is a dangerous precedent that could have catastrophic effects in poor neighborhoods across the country," adding, "If other community nonprofit hospitals follow this example and shift the lion's share of resources to its high-revenue elective patients and procedures, it will leave many emergency patients virtually out in the cold." In addition, "ACEP criticized the medical center's policy toward emergency patients, saying it is dangerously close to the 'patient dumping' prohibited under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act."
University of Chicago to rethink proposal to redirect patients from hospital's ED.
http://links.mkt739.com/servlet/Mai...r=MTM2MzgwOTk5OQS2&j=MTExMDE5MjAyS0&mt=1&rt=0
The Chicago Tribune (3/14, Japsen, Grotto) reported that on Friday, "University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer stepped into the fray...over a controversial proposal to redirect patients from the university hospital's emergency room, announcing steps to come up with 'a better plan.'" Zimmer, "in an internal memo obtained by the Tribune," said that "a committee led by Dr. Everett Vokes, the newly appointed chairman of the department of medicine, would 'review, refine, and modify' proposals initiated by the medical center's chief executive and dean of the medical school, Dr. Jim Madara." Zimmer's action "comes amid an intense debate that has been raging inside and outside the university since its announcement last month that it would eliminate beds in the University of Chicago Medical Center emergency room and redirect some patients to other facilities in the face of rising costs and long waits for emergency treatment."
"Hospital officials said the two-year-old initiative offers patients quicker and less expensive care at neighborhood clinics, rather than having to wait for hours at University of Chicago's emergency room," the AP (3/14) reported. But, "the program came under fire by national medical associations after the" Chicago "Tribune reported last month that a 12-year-old boy bitten by a pit bull was sent away from the medical center with only a shot and painkillers." Following that incident, Nick Jouriles, MD, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians, "said the hospital was trying to 'cherry pick' wealthy patients over poor." For its part, the "hospital last month said that it is eliminating emergency room beds and sending patients elsewhere because of rising costs and long waits."
Emergency physician organizations speak out against University of Chicago's ED plan. American Medical News (3/16, Hedger) reports that in February, "the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine...issued statements about a proposal to cut 30 inpatient beds at the" University of Chicago Medical Center, "including 10 of the 31" emergency department (ED) "beds. Both organizations feared that fewer ED beds may mean worse care for trauma patients." ACEP president Nick Jouriles, MD, stated, "This is a dangerous precedent that could have catastrophic effects in poor neighborhoods across the country," adding, "If other community nonprofit hospitals follow this example and shift the lion's share of resources to its high-revenue elective patients and procedures, it will leave many emergency patients virtually out in the cold." In addition, "ACEP criticized the medical center's policy toward emergency patients, saying it is dangerously close to the 'patient dumping' prohibited under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act."
