9 patients made nearly 2,700 ER visits in Texas

[x635 4,066]

9 patients made nearly 2,700 ER visits in Texas

Wed Apr 1, 9:19 pm ET

AUSTIN, Texas – Just nine people accounted for nearly 2,700 of the emergency room visits in the Austin area during the past six years at a cost of $3 million to taxpayers and others, according to a report. The patients went to hospital emergency rooms 2,678 times from 2003 through 2008, said the report from the nonprofit Integrated Care Collaboration, a group of health care providers who care for low-income and uninsured patients.

FULL STORY: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090402/ap_on_...ent_er_patients

[gss131 212]

I think if they look it up,SoYo would give Austin a run for its money with St Joes being the hospital of choice.With a little help from mousie of course.

Edited April 2, 2009 by gss131

[ny10570 745]

Recently the city hospitals have been consolidating and eliminating duplicate medical record numbers and have discovered some totals that would bury those 9 in Houston. Some of these people had thousands of visits under misspelled names and many time more under their actual name. However I'm not so sure the cost to citizens is accurate. The majority of the time these frequent fliers enter the system they just sober up and leave often from the waiting room.

[Bnechis 3,961]

Recently the city hospitals have been consolidating and eliminating duplicate medical record numbers and have discovered some totals that would bury those 9 in Houston. Some of these people had thousands of visits under misspelled names and many time more under their actual name. However I'm not so sure the cost to citizens is accurate. The majority of the time these frequent fliers enter the system they just sober up and leave often from the waiting room.

Even if not "treated" by the staff, the hospital still incures some cost for the triage nurse, medical records, etc. While each visit might only cost a small amount thousands of visits by thousands of people add up. This is one of the reason that hospitals are in financial crisis and the medicaid/medicare costs are out of control.

[ny10570 745]

It absolutely costs. At the very minimum its to clean up after the come rolling through. There's also the issue that these people do often have legit medical conditions for which they receive no primary care. In that respect they're just like most of everyone else crowding the ER. Stories about 9 people going to the ER thousands of times are year are great and all, but it still doesn't address the problem. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.