Cut Malpractice Claims
When Patients Wait Less

"In our experience, patients who are seen at hospital emergency departments where the wait time is less than 30 minutes file 75% fewer malpractice claims than patients seen at hospital emergency departments where the wait time is greater than 60 minutes," explains CEPAmerica’s Chief Medical Officer Prentice Tom, MD. As the largest provider of ED management and staffing services in California, CEPAmerica physicians see more than 2.5 million patients per year and staff over 60 emergency departments in California, Georgia, Arizona and Oregon.

Fewer claims add up to big savings for physicians and hospitals. While most claims filed by patients do not end in a payout or even a settlement, the cost of those that do is staggering. One study in March 20063 found that medical malpractice cost increases have outpaced all other tort areas, rising at an average of 11.7 percent per year, with 2004 medical malpractice costs totaling over $28.7 billion. Recent research4 also shows that the average jury award and settlement are both on the rise, pegged at $4.8 million and $1 million respectively in 2004.

And those aren't the only costs. "The emotional costs of being named in a medical malpractice suit are huge," adds Studer Group medical director Jay Kaplan, MD, FACEP who also practices at CEPAmerica. "A lawsuit makes a physician question his practice, his competence, and himself as a physician and human being."

To obtain more information regarding patient flow improvement programs such as RME®, visit the CEPAmerica website.

So how do you cut patient wait time in the ED? "Use RME®...rapid medical evaluation," he explains. "It’s a quick patient to provider process that considers triage a function rather than a place. RME® prevents triage from being an obstacle to a satisfying ED patient experience.” After a 30 second quick registration, a nurse or tech can assess a patient’s chief complaint and bring the patient straight to the back, or the patient can be evaluated there in triage by a physician or mild-level practitioner and 'treated and streeted' to avoid waiting for a bed to open up. See sidebar for more information on RME®.

Jay Kaplan, named Outstanding Speaker of the Year in 2003 by the American College of Emergency Physicians, is a practicing emergency department physician for CEP America and Studer Group medical director. Dr. Kaplan’s passion for helping physicians re-connect to purpose is contagious.

3 U.S. Tort Costs: 2005 Update, Towers Perrin, March 2006
4 Current Award Trends in Personal Injury, Jury Verdict Research,
   April 2004 43rd edition
5 Data based on CEPAmerica’s review of wait times and claims per 25,000 patient
   visits at 36 California emergency departments.