Urgent Matters, Blue Jay Consulting, and Schumacher Group would like to congratulate the following team for being chosen as the winner of the 2015 Emergency Care Innovation of the Year Award:
Community Based Care-Mobile Health Paramedic/Mobile Integrated Health
(Submitted by Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Wilkes Barre PA)
The team at Geisinger developed the Community Based Care-Mobile Health Paramedic/Mobile Integrated Health project to provide coordinated care to high utilizers of the Emergency Department, medically complex patients and patients diagnosed with heart failure. The innovation trained three paramedics as Mobile Health Paramedics to address gaps in care by utilizing mobile equipment, audio-visual technology to connect care providers, integration with nurse navigators and case managers, a direct link to primary care providers. Since implementation, 42 hospitalizations, 33 emergency department visits and an estimated 168 inpatient days have been prevented. At the halfway point (6 months), when compared with the control group, Medicaid enrolled frequent ED users receiving patient navigation services reduced their ED visits by 22% (p<0.04), hospital admissions by 67% (p<.0001) and hospital costs by 55% (p<.0001). Qualitatively, patients developed a trusting relationship with their patient navigators, improving their overall satisfaction and ability to manage their own care.
David J. Schoenwetter, DO, FACEP, Medical Director Geisinger EMS and Geisinger Life Flight Medical Director and Kathleen Sharp, CPC, CMM, LBB l Sr. Performance Innovation Consultant l Process Transformation/Clinical Innovation represented the Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center team and presented details of the winning innovation at the Urgent Matters Conference in Boston on October 25, 2015.
We also want to congratulate the Recipient of Distinguished Recognition:
- Patient Navigators, submitted by Yale New Haven Hospital, works with Medicaid enrollees, who are at high risk for being frequent utilizers of the emergency department and often face barriers in accessing primary care. This program was aimed at helping Medicaid frequent ED users access primary care services with the goal of decreasing avoidable ED visits and hospital admissions.
Urgent Matters will feature the winning innovation and Recipient of Distinguished Recognition on our webinar series.
