Dr Jason Mitchell: How Freestanding EDs Can Be Utilized in Shift to Value-Based Care

Jason Mitchell, MD, chief medical and clinical transformation officer, Presbyterian Healthcare Services, discusses how freestanding emergency departments can be utilized in the move toward value-based care.

Transcript

How can freestanding emergency departments be utilized in the move toward value-based care?

Our goal at Presbyterian is to really drop the cost of care, and one of the ways to do that is to allow people to get urgent care when they need urgent care and emergency care when they need that. We found that in our EDs [emergency departments], 16% of those individuals that were there did not need ED visits. So, we’re building freestanding urgent care and urgent care services and designing them so that they really drop the cost of care. Everyone that comes into that ED is considered urgent care, and only if they need ED resources do we bill an ED visit. It saves the patients money in co-pays, it saves the insurance companies money, it drops the cost of care. It really is a revolutionary way to do this.

We take all payers and contract with every payer, and we never balance bill a patient. So, we’ve created a higher value system for our patients and our members in a way that equitable and serves the entire community.