The COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on, and many hospitals are becoming overwhelmed in the process. Without the staff or capacity needed to meet the surging demand for healthcare services, some facilities are struggling to provide urgent care for critically ill patients. Throughout the industry, strained resources are directly affecting the health outcomes of hospitalized patients.
At the same time, the cost of healthcare is rising at an unprecedented pace, and unnecessary ER visits are a major contributing factor. Why? One reason is that when non-emergency medical services are provided in an ER setting, they come at a much higher price than when provided in an urgent care setting. The impact is staggering, and it’s easy to see why: According to a recent study, of the nearly 27 million annual ER visits by privately insured patients, approximately two-thirds could have been avoided with an urgent care visit. For example, many people are going to the ER for common, non-life-threatening medical issues, such as bronchitis, flu, headache, low back pain, nausea, sore throat, and strep throat, all of which can be addressed more effectively and affordably in an urgent care setting.
An effective way to reduce the strain on your hospital is to partner with DispatchHealth, a mobile care group. How can we help? We deliver on-demand urgent care for people of all ages in the comfort and privacy of their own living room or bedroom, providing many would-be hospital patients with a welcome opportunity to stay home—and away from overcrowded hospitals. By customizing our services to meet your organization’s unique needs, we can greatly reduce unnecessary ER visits and hospitalizations, allowing you to redirect your valuable resources to where they are needed most. Together, we can contain the costs of healthcare and, more importantly, improve patient outcomes.
How Does the DispatchHealth Process Work?
DispatchHealth is proud to have created the most innovative and comprehensive in-home healthcare model in the industry. Our process works much like the family doctor’s house call of a bygone era, except that it’s been updated with 21st-century technology and reinvented to better meet the needs of today’s patients. After we receive a call, a text, or an online request, we’ll confirm that the issue at hand is not life-threatening and can be safely treated at home. Then, we’ll send two experienced medical professionals, a Physician Assistant or a Nurse Practitioner and a DispatchHealth Medical Technician (DHMT).
Our medical team will drive directly to the patient’s home, showing up not only with a traditional black doctor’s bag but also with nearly all of the tools and technologies found in a modern ER setting. Plus, a physician trained in emergency medicine will always be just a phone call away. As such, we can provide expert care for complex and urgent medical conditions that can be safely managed in a home setting with appropriate clinical supervision and monitoring.
Some examples of the many conditions we treat include:
Asthma
Back pain
Bronchitis
Congestive heart failure (CHF)
COVID-19
Cuts, scrapes, wounds, and lacerations that need stitches
Dehydration
Earaches and ear infections
Eye infections
Fever
Flu (influenza)
Lacerations
Nausea and vomiting
Pneumonia
Skin infections
Sore throats
Sprains, strains, and minor fractures
Urinary tract infections (UTIs)
Viral infections
In addition to providing attentive urgent care for non-life-threatening health conditions, we will call in any necessary prescriptions, update the patient’s healthcare team, and handle the billing process with the appropriate insurance company. And if we determine that the patient should be hospitalized, we’ll activate EMS or otherwise arrange for the necessary transportation right away.
We’re Your Partner—Not Your Competitor
DispatchHealth understands that many hospitals are experiencing an unprecedented surge in demand, and we’re ramped up and prepared to help them meet it. We can serve as a trusted member of your team, providing an extension of your services rather than a replacement for them. Emergency rooms save countless lives and are undeniably essential. Our goal is to help reduce the strain on hospitals by helping patients stay healthy and administering urgent care in their own homes whenever possible. In doing so, we directly address the problem of hospital overcrowding by reducing the influx of non-emergency patients.
Partner With DispatchHealth
To explore a partnership with DispatchHealth and find out how we can reduce the strain on your hospital, contact us today. One of our knowledgeable team members will be pleased to answer your questions and tell you more about our services, the conditions we treat, and the steps we can take to provide invaluable support to your hospital during these challenging times.
Sources
DispatchHealth relies only on authoritative sources, including medical associations, research institutions, and peer-reviewed medical studies.
Sources referenced in this article:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5442002/
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/debgordon/2021/09/21/amid-covid-19-delta-surge-hospital-at-home-programs-could-relieve-hospital-rationing/?sh=b69f08c40b9d
- https://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/news/diverting-avoidable-emergency-department-visits-could-save-healthcare-32-billion-annually
