Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Web-based primary care referral program associated with reduced emergency department utilization.

Michael Murnik1, Fornessa Randal, Mary Guevara

  • 1Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque 87131-0001, USA. mmurnik@salud.unm.edu

Family Medicine
|March 7, 2006
PubMed
Summary

An enhanced referral system connecting uninsured patients from the University of New Mexico Hospital Emergency Department (UNMH-ED) to a family medicine home significantly reduced subsequent emergency department (ED) visits by 31%. This program improved access to primary care.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Design of MOSAAIC (Multi-Ethnic Observational Study in American Asian and Pacific Islander Communities).

JACC. Asia·2026
Same author

Pioneering psycho-oncology: A collaborative journey for medical and psychology students at <i>e</i>cancer-Tata Medical Center Kolkata Psycho-oncology Congress 2024.

Ecancermedicalscience·2025
Same author

Does engagement matter? The impact of patient and community engagement on implementation of cardiovascular health materials in primary care settings.

BMC primary care·2024
Same author

Academic Medicine's Fourth Mission: Building on Community-Oriented Primary Care to Achieve Community-Engaged Health Care.

Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges·2022
Same author

COVID-19 fosters social accountability in medical education.

Rural and remote health·2022
Same author

Importance and difficulty with valued life activities for people with systemic sclerosis.

Disability and rehabilitation·2022

Area of Science:

  • Health Services Research
  • Public Health
  • Healthcare Management

Background:

  • Uninsured patients often lack a primary care provider and utilize emergency departments (EDs) for routine care.
  • The University of New Mexico Hospital Emergency Department (UNMH-ED) sought to reduce ED utilization among this population.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate an enhanced scheduling system designed to connect uninsured patients from the UNMH-ED to a family medicine practice.
  • To determine if this system could decrease subsequent ED utilization.

Main Methods:

  • The Community Access Program for Central New Mexico (CAP-NM) implemented a HIPAA-compliant, web-based referral system for uninsured patients.
  • The system facilitated referrals from the UNMH-ED to primary care practices within the CAP-NM consortium.

Related Experiment Videos

  • A quality assurance analysis compared ED utilization of referred patients with a control group.

    • Main Results:

    • A total of 756 patients were referred to family medicine homes via the CAP-NM system.
    • Referred patients showed a significant 31% reduction in subsequent ED visits compared to controls.
    • The greatest reduction in ED use was observed in patients with prior infrequent ED utilization.

    Conclusions:

    • An enhanced referral system from the ED to primary care homes is effective in reducing subsequent ED utilization.
    • This intervention successfully decreased emergency department visits for uninsured patients needing primary care.