I've heard of acute-care inpatient units tailored for elderly patients with hand rails and nonslip flooring. Some even have in-room refrigerators to help patients stay hydrated and additional furniture for a more home-like feel. But an emergency room designed specifically for elderly patients? That's a new one.
But that's exactly what Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, MD, has created. According to this Washington Postarticle, the idea was sparked after Holy Cross CEO Kevin Sexton received a call from his mother who was "stressed out" in an ER in New Jersey due in part to the crowded and chaotic environment.
So what exactly does Holy Cross' eight-room senior emergency center boast? Elderly patients who have non life-threatening ailments are taken to their own cubicle that has a comfortable chair for family members and loved ones. It also features plenty of blankets, pillows, and a thicker mattress than traditional ER beds, which can help prevent bedsores. The center, which cost $150,000, also features wooden handrails, nonslip faux wood floors, a large-face clock, and a television with headset. In addition, staff members are trained to communicate with elderly patients whose hearing may be impaired or who may need additional time to process information.
It's clear that aging baby boomers will place a huge burden on healthcare facilities in the years ahead. Already the main driver behind the increase in ED visits—which have grown by 36% since 1996 to about 119 million in 2006—is the aging population, according to an August 2008 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So finding ways to provide safer and more effective care to these patients is a top concern for healthcare executives. The trick, of course, is doing that in a way that's affordable.
I'm glad healthcare leaders are improving services for elderly patients, because I'd love for my own grandparents and loved ones to have access to a senior emergency room to make what's usually an unpleasant experience more tolerable. But I can't help but wonder about the plan (and the viability of that plan) to improve care and the overall experience for the rest of us crammed together in the general ED.
I was pleased to learn recently that there are some low-cost solutions that can make the wait more bearable, speed up the admission process, and improve quality. For example, Scripps Health in San Diego is using restaurant-style beepers in its ED for patients who don't need to be restricted to a bed. This enables them to move about, but if a test result is back or the physician is ready to treat them, they can be easily paged. The pagers also help staff members avoid wasting precious minutes trying to track down a wandering patient.
If a pager can keep hungry people from badgering a hostess about when their table will be ready, perhaps it can also help keep patients calm and free up staff time to focus on getting patients moved through the ED more quickly.
Editor's note: If you would like to learn more about low-cost strategies to reduce crowding, admission wait times, and improve customer satisfaction, please join us on Feb. 20, 2009 for a live Webcast, ED Overhaul 2009: Five improvements to make today, which features executives from Scripps Health, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, and William Beaumont Hospital.
Carrie Vaughan is leadership editor with HealthLeaders magazine. She can be reached at cvaughan@healthleadersmedia.com.
Note: You can sign up to receive HealthLeaders Media Corner Office, a free weekly e-newsletter that reports on key management trends and strategies that affect healthcare CEOs and senior leaders.
The Senate has overwhelmingly approved legislation to provide health insurance to 11 million low-income children. The bill would for the first time spend federal money to cover children and pregnant women who are legal immigrants. GOP lawmakers objected to the new provision allowing states to enroll certain legal immigrants, however. Until now, many immigrants' families have been forced to wait five years for coverage.
As leaders in Congress and the Obama administration look to expand health-insurance coverage while controlling costs, they are considering changing the way doctors are paid for treating Medicare patients. Critics of the current system say it creates a financial incentive for unnecessary treatments. Policy makers and some private insurers may opt to make a single, blanket payment for such things as providing a few months of cancer treatment, which currently can involve many separate billable procedures.
Inova Health has mounted six legal challenges to the Virginia health commissioner's decision authorizing a 164-bed for-profit hospital in Broadlands, and it has twice sought the intervention of the state Supreme Court. Fearing that a nearby competitor would eat into its caseload, Inova has taken out newspaper ads, saturated the neighborhood with direct mail and gave at least $20,000 to a grass-roots movement that has spoken out against HCA Virginia's plan at public meetings. Loudon County's Board of Supervisors will decide on February 3 whether to allow the HCA Virginia network to build a 24-hour acute care hospital in Broadlands.
Two winners emerged from the battle for 41 hospital beds and four operating rooms in Wake County, NC: State regulators approved WakeMed's application to use the beds for a new women's hospital in North Raleigh, while four operating rooms went to the Orthopaedic Surgery Center of Raleigh, a partnership that includes Rex Healthcare. The biggest loser among the applicants was Novant Health, as the Winston-Salem hospital chain proposed using the beds and the operating rooms to build a community hospital in Holly Springs.
A Michigan agency investigating the death of a mental health patient and injuries to two others at a Detroit Medical Center hospital filed a federal lawsuit seeking records the hospital refuses to release. According to court documents, a person died in April after being placed in restraints at Detroit Receiving Hospital's psychiatric crisis center. The subsequent investigation by Michigan Protection and Advocacy Services ended when hospital attorneys denied a request for peer review records of the incident, correspondence with state licensing and health agencies and video and audio records. Hospital attorneys cited privacy law and immunity to the records request.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has again called on state lawmakers to preserve regulatory oversight of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan rates when they tackle health insurance legislation this session. Cox has criticized Blue Cross attempts to change rules covering the health insurance market for individuals. Legislation backed by Blue Cross died last year but likely will be reintroduced. Cox sent lawmakers a letter suggesting they tighten requirements on Blue Cross reporting of charitable spending and reserve levels, along with several other changes, in the upcoming legislation.
Seattle Children's hospital should be allowed to more than double the number of beds and building sizes on its Laurelhurst campus between now and 2030, according to city planners. The determination comes in a recommendation to the Seattle Hearing Examiner's Office, which plans a hearing on the project March 2. The proposed expansion would take in the hospital's 22-acre campus and the 1.8 acres facing it.
The ousted leaders of a California healthcare workers union say they will found a labor organization to rival their former parent union, the Service Employees International Union. The announcement came the day after SEIU President Andy Stern in Washington, DC, wrested control of Oakland-based United Healthcare Workers-West by removing its 100 officers and placing the local under a trustee's care. Sal Rosselli, former president of the 150,000-member local, said it is too early to say who will lead the new national union and how long it would take to get it up and running.
More than one million Pennsylvanians lack health insurance, according to a state survey conducted by the Insurance Department. The results reflect a less than 1% increase over estimates reported in 2004. Officials cautioned that the number of uninsured residents is likely to be even higher given the deteriorating employment situation. Of those without coverage, 880,000 were adults, and 140,000 were children.
