Reconnecting Patients With Their Primary Care Provider: An Intervention for Reducing Nonurgent Pediatric Emergency Department Visits

Objective. Intervention to reduce nonurgent pediatric emergency department (PED) visits over a 12-month followup. Methods. Prospective, randomized, controlled trial enrolled children seen in the PED for nonurgent concerns. Intervention subjects received a structured session/handout specific to their primary care provider (PCP), which outlined ways to obtain medical advice. Visitation to the PED and PCP were followed over 12 months. Results. A total of 164 patients were assigned to the intervention and 168 patients to the control. At 12-month follow-up, the intervention group had a lower rate of nonurgent PED utilization compared with the control group (70 [43%] patients in the intervention compared with 91 [54%] in the control; P = .047). At 12 months, there was an increase in the rate of sick visits to PCP in the intervention group when compared with the control (P = .036). Conclusions. Intervention designed in cooperation with pediatricians was able to decrease nonurgent PED utilization and redirect patients to their PCP for future sick visits over a 12-month period.