Health and Disability

Now a new approach is showing promise in reducing visits to the ER by what the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services calls “super-utilizers,” typically defined as those who use emergency services four or more times a year. The National Conference of State Legislatures estimates that up to 27 percent of all visits to ERs are for nonemergencies. But so-called community paramedic programs are finding new ways to manage these frequent flyers.

Minnesota has been a pioneer in community paramedicine. Under its program, a hospital will typically identify four or five super-utilizers who need a managed care approach. Then community paramedics will go into those people’s homes to look not only at their overall health issues but also at factors like safety precautions and nutrition. Through the program, Minnesota has seen ER use by super-utilizers decrease by 60 to 70 percent.