Every hospital unit has their “frequent flyers”;  patients who make repeat visits for often times benign reasons.  The emergency room is of course, the most frequented of the frequent flyer phenoms (say that 10 times fast).  Here is an interesting article found on the Digg website:  9 patients Made Nearly 2700 ER Visits in Texas.

The story goes on to explain how these 9 patients, who visited the ER 2,678 times from 2003 through 2008, cost Texas taxpayers nearly $3 million dollars in Medicaid/Medicare payments.  Most of the frequent flyers were drug abusers with mental health issues.

For those who work in ER’s this story will not surprise them.  I would be curious to know what per cent of all ER visits are due to drug related issues and psychosis.  Putting the figures into numbers and dollar signs is what makes it a shock to the system.  $3 million dollars spent on 9 patients who did not have medical emergencies.

When times get tough, mental health care is always the first to have funding cut.  Closing down psychiatric facilities will lead to these patients crowding out the ER.    Times are certainly tough right now, and ER’s must be hopping.  The article mentioned some solutions to this problem such as referring some frequent users to mental health programs or primary care doctors for future care.  Really?  I don’t think there is an over abundance of viable mental health programs out there.  And, what primary care docs are chomping at the bit to add more public aid mental health patients to their roster?  Not many.

I feel for the patients who are truly mentally ill and wander in the ER for complaints they feel are real.  For various other reasons, I do not feel as much sympathy for your average run-of-the-mill drug abuser.  I try, but with not much success. (something I need to work on, I guess).

So what do we do with these patients?  I am sure the ER would appreciate some valid suggestions.

RR