Oral

Use of hospital emergency department services for non-urgent care may have a negative impact on the quality and continuity of care for patients while driving up overall health costs. There are many reasons why patients seek ED care for non-urgent conditions, including inability to access a usual source of care, insurance or other financial limitations, and transportation and scheduling obstacles to getting health care for acute conditions in a timely fashion. This session will focus on transportation barriers that affect access to care in both urban and rural sessions. We will discuss these issues as they apply to the current economic climate of higher gasoline prices for individuals and families who own an automobile. We will also focus on issues around availability and utilization of public transportation resources. Data that describe the extent to which ED use is for non-urgent health problems will be presented. One study will describe findings from interviews with parents of children who had brought their child to a rural ED for care. Implications of these studies for public policy that will improve health access and reduce health care costs will be discussed.

Session Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be better able to: Recognize the impacts transportation barriers have on accessing care Understand policy issues that may reduce transportation barriers for Medicaid recipient Describe how geographical data and software can be used to analyze non-urgent users of an emergency department

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing