Today, more and more Americans are relying on Emergency Departments for primary health care. According to the CDC, in 2006, 119 million visits were made to emergency rooms, an increase of 32% in the last 10 years. It has also been reported that 55% of emergency room visits were not emergencies.

Why? People often are confused about what level of care to seek for a health problem. They don’t know if their problem is serious and considered an emergency, therefore necessitating a trip the emergency room or if it is routine and can be treated in the comfort of their home or office. Further, people often don’t want to take care of their issue during their work hours, and so look for healthcare solutions after 5 pm or on weekends, which leads them to seek routine health care in emergency rooms.

How can you tell if you should go to the emergency room?

WhiteGlove House Call Health provides get-well care and stay-well care.  Anything you would normally go to your family doctor for, you can call Whiteglove for:

• Flu
• Cold
• Sinus infection
• Skin rash
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Ear infection
• Urinary tract infection
• Minor cuts

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) gives a list of health problems for which you should go to the emergency room. Go to the emergency room if you have:

• Difficulty breathing, shortness of breath
• Chest or upper abdominal pain or pressure
• Fainting, sudden dizziness, weakness
• Changes in vision
• Confusion or changes in mental status
• Any sudden or severe pain
• Uncontrolled bleeding
• Severe or persistent vomiting or diarrhea
• Coughing or vomiting blood
• Suicidal feelings
• Difficulty speaking
• Shortness of breath
• Unusual abdominal pain
• Loss of consciousness

A complete list with details is available on the ACEP website.

Next time, remember, any health problem that might cause you to go to a primary care physician, family physician or even a minor care clinic, is a problem that WhiteGlove can handle. Save time, save money and save yourself a long wait in an over-crowded emergency room.

QUESTION and ANSWERS: Do you have other tips or ideas? Please share a comment with us. If you have further questions please send them directly to questions@whiteglove.com and we will get to them as quickly as possible.

See all the WhiteGlove Self-Help posts.

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In a recent (April 28, 2011) in NPR’s health blog entitled “Emergency Room Doctors Say Health Law Will Make ER Crowding Worse”, the author discussed a new survey released by the American College of Emergency Physicians. In it, ER physicians say that emergency room overcrowding isn’t caused by people who don’t have insurance, but by people who do but cannot find a doctor to treat them.

“97 percent of ER doctors… said they treat patients daily who have private insurance and primary care doctors, but whose primary care doctors sent them to the emergency room for care…because the patient’s need for care arose during a time when that private doctor’s office was closed.”

Further “89 percent of physicians in the survey said they believe the number of visits to emergency rooms will increase as the new health law is implemented. ‘The results are significant,” said ACEP President Sandra Schneider in prepared comments. “They confirm what we are witnessing in Massachusetts — that visits to emergency rooms are going to increase across the country, despite the advent of health care reform, and that health insurance coverage does not guarantee access to medical care.’”

What’s interesting about this article, beyond the fact that it flies in the face of the conventional wisdom that ERs are filled with uninsured patients, is that no one seems to be thinking beyond the reality of what’s happening right now. There’s no consideration that alternative options are going to spring up to fill a need. But they will, and have already.

WhiteGlove House Call Health is one such alternative. WhiteGlove operates 365 days a year, from 8 am till 8 pm. Members no longer have to seek medical care at emergency rooms and minor emergency clinics for non-emergency health problems simply because their regular doctor’s office is closed. WhiteGlove members, insured and uninsured alike, have the peace of mind that comes with knowing that they are not tied to a doctor’s office hours for help with most of their healthcare needs.

Liz McDonald
Social Media Associate – WhiteGlove

Please share a comment with us. If you have further questions please send them directly to questions@whiteglove.com and we will get to them as quickly as possible.

Reference:
Emergency Room Doctors Say Health Law Will Make ER Crowding Worse, NPR April 28, 2011

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WhiteGlove is breaking the healthcare cost trend for our member companies.

Here’s how we do it:

• Cap medical services and prescription medication costs that are within the scope of our services;
• Do not file insurance claims for any of our visits or the generic prescription medications that we prescribe;
• Eliminate between 68% to 75% of the expensive urgent care and emergency room use for primary care by their employees;
• Reduce the number of times employees are absent from work for medical matters (for themselves or family members);
• Lower the likelihood of large surprise claims hitting the employer’s health insurance plan.

For self-insured organizations, this translates into significant savings for both the employers and their employees and dependents and increased employee productivity.

We turn the unpredictable and variable expense for employers and employees/dependents into predictable, fixed expense.

And it comes with a huge bonus: since WhiteGlove will save your employees time and money they will love the benefit! Our current members rave about the service they receive from WhiteGlove. (Check out or Member’s Reviews page on our blog.)

With more than 600,000 members from over 400 employers, see how WhiteGlove is breaking the healthcare cost trend.

Email me directly and I will set you up with with one of our business managers in your area so you can learn how to break your cost trend and give your employees a benefit they will love. No sales person will call. (grin)

Let us help you break the rising healthcare cost trend for your business.

John McElhenney
Director of Social Marketing – WhiteGlove

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