Spohn hopes new clinic will reduce burden on emergency rooms
By Dave Hendricks, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, Texas | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Last year, though, about 40 percent of the emergency room visits at Memorial hospital involved patients with non-emergency medical problems, according to data provided by the
Data about non-emergency visits to emergency rooms partially prompted Christus Spohn's recent proposal to demolish Memorial and build a new 40,000-square-foot primary care clinic on the hospital campus, said Dr.
"We have a saying: Get people to the right place for the right care at the right time," Blow said.
Under the
Negotiations between Christus Spohn and the
"Spohn is also currently utilizing a widely recognized process improvement methodology (the "Lean methodology") to improve processes within the ED at Shoreline. To date, Spohn has seen an improvement in average wait times," according to the draft agreement, which abbreviated references to the hospital emergency department. "Spohn's Transformation of Care plan includes the expansion of sites that will allow more access to primary care for patients that are not truly urgent. This is expected to improve the wait-times for truly emergent patients treated in the Shoreline ED and improve the experience for all patients."
Emergency room waits at Christus Spohn's three
Patients spent an average six hours and 57 minutes in the emergency room before they were admitted to the hospital for inpatient care, according to data collected by the
Patients at Christus Spohn's local emergency rooms also spent an average 58 minutes waiting to see a health care professional, according to the
Blow cautioned against comparing Christus Spohn with the average data, saying the health system's responsibility for indigent care, role as the region's trauma center and other factors prevented an apples-to-apples comparison. He suggested comparing Christus Spohn against
Both serve large urban areas and fulfill similar functions to Christus Spohn, Blow said. They both also have wait times well above the
How any agreement between the
Regardless, hospitals have limited control over emergency room waiting times, which depend on a complex array of factors and vary day to day.
"One of the biggest concerns, and it's a nationwide crisis, is a lot of people are using ERs as their primary healthcare," said
About 21.5 percent of
"And if you look where our biggest populations are centered, they're centered around Memorial and Shoreline," said Fomenko, who worked at Shoreline as a nurse for seven years.
Christus Spohn's proposal would tackle the root problem with the new, 40,000-square-foot primary care clinic located on the Memorial hospital campus.
Focused on family medicine, the new clinic would include a pharmacy, laboratory and x-ray services. Clinic workers would offer advice on managing chronic conditions, including high blood pressure and diabetes. Counselors would help clinic patients navigate health care services, understand how to correctly take their medication and make other basic-but-critical health care decisions.
Blow said Christus Spohn wants to encourage patients with non-emergency conditions, which accounted for 40 percent of emergency room visits at Memorial and 30 percent of emergency room visits at Shoreline last year, to visit the new clinic. That would provide better, more efficient care for everyone and presumably reduce emergency room waiting times for patients with urgent medical problems.
"You've basically got a hospital that's looking at what the future of care is," said
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 -- commonly called Obamacare -- encouraged hospitals to re-examine how they provide health care, emphasizing a so-called "continuum of care" that looks beyond simply billing for procedures.
"If you actually look at it, Lunsford said. "They're actually doing more for the community,"
Twitter: @CallerDaveH
Fast Facts
The
Services offered at the clinic would include:
Extended hours, including 24-hour service on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Spohn would continually evaluate the demand for 24-hour service and may alter the hours based on need.
Specialty clinics including urology, cardiology, neurology, endocrinology, orthopedics and post-trauma care.
Pharmacy services
X-ray services
Laboratory services
Community health workers, who would help patients navigate the health care system
Management of chronic conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure and heart conditions
Social and behavioral health services
Wellness education focused on diet and lifestyle choices
A chapel
Benefits counselors from the
Source:
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