Hospitals Share Data To Stop ER Abusers

摘要

When a man is rolled into an emergency room with acute abdominal pain, a doctor he's never met must quickly try to figure out the cause of the problem: Kidney stone? Appendicitis? Triple cheeseburger? If the physician had a way of knowing that the man complains of aches and pains all the time, that a recent CT scan revealed no problems, and that a few days earlier a doctor at another ER had sent him home with an antacid and instructions to follow-up with his family doctor, the examination would take a lot less time and likely cost a lot less money. "All of a sudden, it changes the whole nature of the conversation with the patient," says Dan Lessler, the chief medical officer for Washington state's Medicaid program.