Healthcare Quarterly

Healthcare Quarterly 19(4) January 2017 : 47-54.doi:10.12927/hcq.2017.25010
Innovations In Primary Care

Emergency Department Use: Influence of Connection to a Family Physician on ED Use and Attempts to Avoid Presentation

Lynette D. Krebs, Scott W. Kirkland, Cristina Villa-Roel, Alan Davidson, Britt Voaklander, Taylor Nikel, Rajiv Chetram, Stephanie Couperthwaite, Garnet Cummings and Brian H. Rowe

Abstract

Some low-acuity emergency department (ED) presentations are potentially avoidable with improved primary care access. The majority of ED patients (74.4%) in this study had a family physician, but the frequency of visits varied substantially. The variable frequency of patients' visits to these providers calls into question the validity of linkage assumptions. Several sociodemographic factors were associated with having a family physician, including female sex, being married/common law, race (Caucasian), being employed over the previous 12 months and having received a flu shot in the past year. These factors need to be explored further.

 

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