July 22, 2013
The 38-day, $60,000 Emergency Room Visit
Hard to believe, I know, but a patient actually spent 38 days in a hospital emergency room in 2012 waiting for a bed to become available in a psychiatric facility. This isn’t a “medical” event, but mental health costs are soaring and contribute to absenteeism, too. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (see the link on our site to this agency) reported that emergency room visits involving mental health issues increased a dramatic 50% (from 10,000,000 in 2005 to nearly 15,000,000 in 2010)!
The system just isn’t prepared and able to deal with these volumes for this type of illness. Makes your EAP process look mighty important, and may bring to mind consideration of on-site counseling services. To say nothing of preventing stress and potentially harassment and violence in the workplace. Lots of reasons to think about mental health.
Written by: Dorothea Taylor
Trackback URL: https://onsiteclinics.org/2013/07/22/the-38-day-60000-emergency-room-visit/trackback/
