"When your five-year-old is crying with a fever at 7 p.m. on a Friday because she has a sore throat or an ear ache, what do you do?" states Eina Fishman, MD, MS, CPE, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Medical Director. "It is important that people know they have options for less serious ailments other than an ER, such as retail health clinics and walk-in centers that provide quality care and may cost significantly less."
According to the insurer, consumers may save out-of-pocket expenses because ER copays range from $75 to $100, compared with $20 to $30 for walk-in centers and retail health clinics, depending upon the member's benefits.
"Not only were the ER program's online tools developed to be easy to use—but they are available to everyone," said David Fusco, president, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. "All you have to do is go to Google, Yahoo! or Bing, and type in 'Anthem CT Urgent Care' and our
Anthem is targeting a younger demographic. "We see in our data that the highest rates of avoidable ER use are among people 34 and younger—those who are less likely to have a primary care physician, but more likely to use technology," said Dr. Fishman. "We chose to develop Google Maps and create online advertising because that's where people go for information."
A RAND Corp. report maintains that approximately 17 percent of all visits to hospital emergency departments nationally could potentially be treated at retail medical clinics or urgent care centers for an estimated savings of $4.4 billion. In addition, ER visits also are getting longer; with Connecticut ranked 29th nationally in the length of its ER waits—247 minutes, according to the Emergency Department Pulse Report, Press Ganey Associates, 2010
