The Gap: Why We Should Care

The opportunity and the imperative for hospitals and health systems


The emergency department sits at the nexus of hospital-based care and the outpatient world. It serves as a front door for the hospital, providing over 70 percent of all hospital admissions.

From the ED’s unique vantage point, it is clear there is an unaddressed Care Gap costing the U.S. health care system, and all its stakeholders, dearly. Many return ED visits are preventable and involve patients who may struggle to fill new prescriptions or follow a new care plan. A recent analysis of more than 1 million patient encounters at 300 EDs nationwide found that 50 percent of hospitalizations occurred within 7.5 days of an ED discharge.

In this white paper, Randy Pilgrim, MD, FACEP, FAAFP, enterprise chief medical officer of SCP Health, identifies solutions and enumerates the benefits of narrowing and filling the Care Gap, including:
 
  • Improved patient outcomes
  • Decreased cost and risk
  • Increased capacity and optimized resources
  • Better performance in value-based models 

 

Please fill out the form to download the whitepaper.