Syracuse, N.Y. -- Central New Yorkers made 113,237 trips to hospital emergency rooms for sore throats, earaches and other minor medical problems in 2008 that could have been treated less expensively in doctors’ offices, according to a report by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. More than four of 10 visits to Central New York ERs that did not involve overnight patient stays...
Syracuse, N.Y. -- Central New Yorkers made 113,237 trips to hospital emergency rooms for sore throats, earaches and other minor medical problems in 2008 that could have been treated less expensively in doctors’ offices, according to a report by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield.
More than four of 10 visits to Central New York ERs that did not involve overnight patient stays were potentially unnecessary, the report said. The health insurer said the proportion of unnecessary ER visits is about the same across its upstate territory.
To calculate the number of potentially unnecessary ER visits, Excellus applied a New York University formula that classifies ER visits to hospital data collected by the state Health Department.
The report shows:
*One of four Central New York ER visits involved a patient treated and released in the same day for a medical issue that did not need care within 12 hours, such as back problems.
*Another 19 percent of visits were for medical conditions such as ear infections that needed treatment soon, but could have been treated in a primary care setting.
The report estimated it can be $450 to $900 less expensive to go to a doctor’s office than an ER. It estimated that if 5 percent of patients who don’t have true emergencies went to doctors’ offices instead of ERs, the potential annual savings across upstate would range from $5.9 million to $8.6 million.
About 45 percent of the unnecessary ER trips occurred between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., the report said.
The ER is often the only option for people seeking care at night and on weekends, said Ron Lagoe of the Hospital Executive Council, a Syracuse hospital planning agency.
When a child wakes up in the middle of the night screaming with an ear infection, parents want to get care immediately so they go to an ER, Lagoe said. “The outcome is exactly the same as it would have been in a physician’s office, but the physician’s office isn’t open,” he said.
Some people also go to ERs at night with minor illnesses because they want to get treated before they go to work the next day and do not want to have to wait to get an appointment at a doctor’s office, he said.
“The primary care system ought to be used, but there are some people who prefer to use emergency departments,” Lagoe said.