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Hospital Emergency Departments Looking to Primary Health Centers for Help

With hospital emergency departments (EDs) around the nation teeming with non-urgent patients, many are working to redirect appropriate patients to outpatient clinics or Community Health Centers. Efforts to promote greater use of primary care providers are being made in an attempt to increase access to care, enhance quality, and contain costs, especially for low-income, uninsured, and Medicaid patients.

According to studies done by the Center for Studying Health System Change, site visits in 12 nationally representative metropolitan communities - including Indianapolis - show that many EDs are meeting patients' non-urgent needs more efficiently through referrals to primary care centers.

Click here to access the complete findings of this study.