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The Department of Health is launching a pilot program aimed at reducing the unnecessary use of an emergency room by Medicaid recipients.
Acadian Health will launch an urgent mobile care unit to patients’ homes for treatment of non-life-threatening medical conditions.
“This is an extension of their provider, not trying to take the place of a provider, to see if we could reduce the utilization of the emergency department for no acuity issues that may arise with our Medicaid members,” says Brig. Gen. Cindy Haygood.
Recent data gathered by LDH’s Bureau of Health Services Financing shows that approximately 20% of the state’s Medicaid patients visit local emergency rooms on average 17 times per year, often for non-life-threatening situations or due to social factors, such as a lack of transportation.
Part of the program involves a clinic at home, which would be a pre-scheduled visit.
“Go into their home and just kind of look at their environment and understand what is driving them to the emergency department,” says Brig. Gen. Haygood.
Haygood says from there, Acadian will work with the patient’s provider to come up with solutions.
“Acadian Health will go out and do a full assessment and reach back to that provider through a Tele-Health visit to really understand what are some of the things going on with that member,” Haygood says. “From there, they’ll do triage, and the provider can do some ordering. Acadian has several different things that they can do while they’re at the patient’s home.”
This is a six-month program that will take place in the 12 parishes that comprise Acadiana and Southwest Louisiana.
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