Association Between the Opening of Retail Clinics and Low-Acuity Emergency Department Visits

Martsolf, Grant R.; Fingar, Kathryn R.; Coffey, Rosanna M.; Kandrack, Ryan; Charland, Tom; Eibner, Christine; Elixhauser, Anne; Steiner, Claudia; Mehrotra, Ateev

doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2016.08.462

Cited by 31 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…21 Research has not borne out any substitution effect of retail clinics for patients with low-acuity conditions otherwise showing up in the ED. 22 It simply may be the case that more healthcare availability is associated with more healthcare utilization, particularly when there are low barriers to accessing services. That said, increasing utilization is not necessarily a bad thing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of Use and Correlates of Patient Satisfaction with a Large Nationwide Direct to Consumer Telemedicine Service

et al. 2018

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of Use and Correlates of Patient Satisfaction with a Large Nationwide Direct to Consumer Telemedicine Service

et al. 2018

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“…Furthermore, to the extent that preventing illness is socially beneficial, even when such illnesses do not result in an interaction with the healthcare system, the fact that retail clinics reduce the burden of preventable diseases may swing the balance of welfare calculations in favor of regulatory changes that promote competition from retail clinics. 4 One recent paper from the medical literature also looks at the effect of retail clinics on low acuity emergency room visits, and finds little to no effect (Martsolf et al, 2017). Our analysis differs from Martsolf et al (2017) in a number of ways that could explain the discrepancy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Check up before you check out: Retail clinics and emergency room use

Alexander

Currie

Schnell

2019

Journal of Public Economics

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The retail clinic is an innovation that has the potential to improve competition in health care markets. Given concern about inefficient use of the emergency room (ER) increasing health care costs, we use all ER visits in New Jersey from 2006-2014 to examine the impact of retail clinics on ER usage. We find that people residing close to an open clinic are 4.1-12.3 percent less likely to use an ER for preventable conditions and for minor acute conditions. Our estimates suggest annual cost savings of over $70 million from reduced ER usage if retail clinics were readily available across New Jersey. Working Paper Series A series of research studies on regional economic issues relating to the Seventh Federal Reserve District, and on financial and economic topics.

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“…Most recently however, an ACEP survey revealed that three-quarters of EM physicians report ER visits either flat or going up [27]. Little or no reduction was reported in the volume of low acuity ED visits due to UCCs, retail clinics or even telephone triage [28].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Urgent Care Centers on Emergency Department Visits

Yakobi¹

2017

Health Care Current Reviews

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Background: Urgent Care Centers (UCC) and Retail Clinics (RC) have become popular as the need for convenient care continues to grow in light of long waits to be seen by Emergency Departments (ED). Objective:To analyze the impact of UCC on the ED census of nearby hospitals.Methods: This retrospective analysis examined census for the EDs located within 2 miles from UCC. The census was obtained for a period of January 2010 through December 2015 from four different hospitals in New York City. This period corresponds to the rapid expansion of UCC in the metropolitan area.Results: Although some variation was seen during certain years, there was an increase in ED census in the year 2015 as compared to that of 2010. About 100 UCCs operate among the various boroughs of New York City that are capable of addressing illnesses that are classified by ED as ESI Level 4 and 5. Insurance companies would prefer patients to be seen by these centers rather than in costly EDs. Also the overall healthcare cost could potentially benefit if roughly 20% of the ED visits were seen in UCC. Nonetheless, no impact on total ED census was observed. Conclusion:While UCCs are relatively new in New York City and the wait time is much shorter for simple illnesses, the presence of UCCs did not decrease the census of main EDs. It is anticipated that these alternative care centers will play a bigger role in the future.

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Association Between the Opening of Retail Clinics and Low-Acuity Emergency Department Visits

Cited by 31 publications

References 21 publications

Patterns of Use and Correlates of Patient Satisfaction with a Large Nationwide Direct to Consumer Telemedicine Service

Patterns of Use and Correlates of Patient Satisfaction with a Large Nationwide Direct to Consumer Telemedicine Service

Check up before you check out: Retail clinics and emergency room use

Impact of Urgent Care Centers on Emergency Department Visits

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