Uninsured make ERs routine stop.For too much of the Valley's uninsured population, emergency rooms are a one-stop shop One-Stop Shop A company or a location that offers a multitude of services to a client or a customer. The idea is to provide convenient and efficient service and also to create the opportunity for the company to sell more products to clients and customers. . Everything an ailing person needs, X-rays, medical tests and prescription medicine, can be found in one place. What uninsured patients aren't prepared for, however, are the mammoth bills that come after an emergency room visit. Most of them can't pay, and hospitals are stuck with a permanent money-losing proposition. The fate of a financially strapped hospital is often closure, as Californians know. Doctors and administrators are required to treat every patient that comes through the doors, but more and more they are trying to convince regular visitors to seek other treatment for lingering conditions. The issue was at the forefront of the health care debate in 2004. "We have a social service person here who is knowledgeable about what's available in the community," said Dr. Michael Sarti, medical director of emergency services emergency services Emergency care '…services …necessary to prevent death or serious impairment of health and, because of the danger to life or health, require the use of the most accessible hospital available and equipped to furnish those services' as Providence Holy Cross. "It's not the most efficient care to have some one coming back to the ER." Sarti said doctors never discourage patients from coming back to the emergency department, but said that educating patients as to the alternatives in a community is a daunting daunt tr.v. daunt·ed, daunt·ing, daunts To abate the courage of; discourage. See Synonyms at dismay. [Middle English daunten, from Old French danter, from Latin task. Sarti said there is social worker available seven days per week during business hours BUSINESS HOURS. The time of the day during which business is transacted. In respect to the time of presentment and demand of bills and notes, business hours generally range through the whole day down to the hours of rest in the evening, except when the paper is payable it a bank or by a , but that state-budgeted outreach programs are continually shrinking. Some hospitals are looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. new ways to encourage patients to seek continuing care continuing care a professional convention that a veterinarian who is treating an animal is obliged to continue treating that case unless an arrangement is made with its custodian to transfer the care to another practitioner or to a specialist. elsewhere. "On the front end, you can't do a whole lot, but when they're discharged, the best thing we can do is education, and work on getting them referrals," said Dr. Stephen Jones, medical director of emergency services at Northridge Hospital and Medical Center. "We're working with Tarzana Treatment Centers Tarzana Treatment Centers (TTC) is a community-based, non-profit, healthcare organization providing behavioral health, primary care and other health related services. TTC was incorporated in 1972 as Free Men, Inc., and later changed its name to Tarzana Treatment Center. and developing a process by which we have a case worker speak with patients and arrange for follow up care." Jones said the program is aimed at patients who come to the emergency department on a regular basis for chronic or recurrent acute care. |
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