Emergency medical technicians have begun to forego transporting patients to the hospital when the situation allows for treatment in the patient's home, according to STAT News.
More than 100 mobile integrated programs exist across the country, and providers say they are more convenient for patients, less expensive for insurers and reduce the risk of patients contracting hospital-acquired infections. Many conditions that people go to the emergency room for, such as low blood sugar or high blood pressure, are easily treatable from a living room.
While hospital administrators believe the programs are a good way to cut down on unnecessary ER visits, more studies are needed to discern the true benefits of the programs.
"We know that it saved money when people avoided going to the hospital," Stephen Dorner, MD, an emergency physician at Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital, told STAT News. "But we're talking about avoiding something that it's hard to predict in the first place. There hasn't been a full-scale, retrospective analysis."