Comparison of presenting complaint vs discharge diagnosis for identifying " nonemergency" emergency department visits.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Reduction in emergency department (ED) use is frequently viewed as a potential source for cost savings. One consideration has been to deny payment if the patient's diagnosis upon ED discharge appears to reflect a "nonemergency" condition. This approach does not incorporate other clinical factors such as chief complaint that may inform necessity for ED care.

Objective

To determine whether ED presenting complaint and ED discharge diagnosis correspond sufficiently to support use of discharge diagnosis as the basis for policies discouraging ED use.

Design, setting, and participants

The New York University emergency department algorithm has been commonly used to identify nonemergency ED visits. We applied the algorithm to publicly available ED visit data from th

SUBMITTER: Raven MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3711676 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature