Comparative emergency department resource utilisation across age groups.

Conclusion With ED care of older people demonstrated to be more resource intensive than care for younger people, the projected increase in older person presentations anticipated with population aging will have a magnified effect on ED services. These predicted changes in demand for ED care will only be able to be optimally managed if Australian health policy, ED funding instruments and ED models of care are adjusted to take into account the specific care and resource needs of older people.What is known about the topic? Current Australian ED funding models do not adjust for patient age. Several regional studies have suggested higher resource utilisation of ED patients aged ≥65 years. Anticipated rapid population aging mandates that contribution of age to ED visit resource utilisation be further explored.What does this paper add? The present study of national Australian ED presentations compared ED resource utilisation across age groups using surrogate markers of ED cost. Older people were found to have significantly higher resource utilisation in the ED, with the effect increasing further with advancing age.What are the implications for practitioners? The higher resource utilisation of older people in the ED warrants a review of current ED funding models to ensure that they will continue to meet the needs of an aging population. PMID: 29224590 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Australian Health Review - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Tags: Aust Health Rev Source Type: research