Understanding the ED’s Impact on Downstream Clinical and Financial Results

Remarkable market forces are converging to draw the attention of health system C-suite executives to the ED:

• Ever-increasing patient volumes in the ED strain staff and facility capacity;
• Growing proportion of 50% or more inpatients admitted through the ED truly make it the “front door” to the hospital;
• Uninsured, under-insured, and Medicaid patients exert extraordinary financial pressures;
• Non-reimbursement of hospital-acquired conditions that are present on admission (POA); and
• Expansion of Medicare’s Recovery Audit Commission (RAC) activities and other regulatory challenges.

Combined with the dramatic economic downturn, these trends are accelerating the transformation of the ED from just another outpatient setting to an integral influencer of downstream clinical and financial results.

Leverage key findings from the Benchmarking Study

• Comparison of top and bottom 10% profiles
• Strategic issues facing ED services
• Importance of ED services to health systems’ strategic success
• Use of system-level ED executive and balanced scorecard
• Best practice adoption: utilization and effectiveness
• Current challenges: POA and ED call coverage
• Opportunities for IT, management infrastructure and strategic planning

Understanding the ED’s impact on downstream clinical and financial results

Benchmarking study advisory committee

Karen B. Haller, R.N., Ph.D.
VP for nursing and patient care services
The Johns Hopkins Hospital

Bruce H. Hamory, M.D.
EVP and chief medical officer
Geisinger Health System

Gary E. Kalkut, M.D.
SVP and chief medical officer
Montefiore Medical Center

Phyllis R. Lantos
EVP and chief financial officer
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

Mimi Novello, M.D.
Assoc. chairman, dept. of emergency medicine
Academy GE Fellow
MedStar Health

Ninfa Saunders, Ph.D.
EVP and chief operating officer
Virtua Health

Jeffery Wajda, D.O., M.S., F.A.C.E.P.
VP clinical services
LYNX Medical Systems, a Picis company

Beth S. Ward
Chief financial officer and treasurer
Moses Cone Health System

Jeff Weiss, M.D.
Medical director
Academy GE fellow
Montefiore Medical Center