9 Patients Made Over 2,600 Hospital Visits

(CBS)  At one of the busiest emergency rooms in Texas, simply keeping up with the daily flood of new patients is challenge enough. But at University Medical Center Brackenridge and several other ERs in the Austin area, it's a handful of familiar faces that have taken up massive amounts of time and medical resources, reports CBS News correspondent Don Teague.

Nine people visited Austin's ERs more than 2,600 times in six years, according to a report from the nonprofit Integrated Care Collaboration, a group of health care providers for low-income and uninsured patients in Central Texas. One of those people went to city emergency rooms 145 times last year alone. All told, the cost for treating the nine people was more than $3 million.

For reasons of medical privacy, CBS News can't name the nine patients. But three of them are homeless, seven have been diagnosed with mental problems, and eight are drug users.

And doctors think that the problem is much bigger than Texas.

"Every ER doctor anywhere in the country can tell you who their top 10 list is," said Dr. Christopher Ziebell of University Medical Center.

Overusers are part of the reason trips by Americans to the emergency room rose 30 percent in 10 years - from 93 million per year in 1997 to 121 million ER visits annually in 2007.

In the Austin cases, the overusing patients usually complained of chest pains, at times running up diagnostic bills of $20,000 in a single visit, and forcing other patients to wait.

"It really detracts from what we're able to do with those individuals who are really needing more acute care," said Dr. Stan Rice of University Medical Center.

And since the overusers can't pay for their care, emergency care costs more for all of us.

"If we're talking about $3 million among nine people in Austin, Texas, then we're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars across the nation," Ziebell said.

The report's authors say the key to solving the problem is technology: Identifying those who abuse the ER system, saving time, money and resources for the patients who truly need care.

[hetup-2009]

It is the illegals the hospitals hire for cheap. Massive profits.

Most of the heavy users of ER are single moms with 8 or more children in tow

[shockolit]

Geesh, every time we have had to go to the emergency room there were no illegals there. Where are you all seeing all these illegals? How about all the jobs companies have sent overseas because these other countries have socialized medicine, and it saves the expense of providing health coverage?

[jd2408]

And no one blinks at the fact that it's possible to run up such a bill on chest pains in a single visit? Let's put things into perspective here! We can complain about the 'users' of the system, but they are few and far between compared to those (read: the rest of us) who get stiffed by the unjustifiable and inhumane cost of care in the USA. Puh-leeze. Bring the costs down to reasonable (meaning insurance companies, manufacturers and doctors do away with their gazillion percent profits) and then tell me about the users. Until then, I really don't care. Posted by tmonta67 at 11:38 PM : Apr 4, 2009

========================================================================

Amen, this is so true. The nursing home did not have an opening for my neighbors 87 year old husband and they had to keep him in a hospital care center for a short time. The hospital doctor called in ( 9 ) specialists to come in. Everything from a foot doctor, brain specialist, cardiologist, you name it. I think he was there for one month when he was transferred to a nursing home and died the first week he was there. My neighbor told me she could not understand what they were doing and they did not share information with her. They took her life savings except for $3000 dollars they said she could keep. I hope President Obama can take an honest look at this health care system that seems to be more like big business.

[runningralph]

In the 1930's, the US taxpayers started giving away money. In the 1950's there was a huge class of takers. Also there is a huge class of businesses whose sole product is squeezing money out of taxpayer giveaways. All these give away recipients and businesses created to take advantage of them are nonproductive people taking from productive people. The only way to increase wealth is through mining, agriculture, and manufacturing. If the government keeps taking from producers there will be no reason for producers to produce. The government's job is to is to keep taxpayers safe and try to create more taxpayers and productive citizens. Giveaway programs have the opposite effect.

[tmonta67]

"complained of chest pains, at times running up diagnostic bills of $20,000 in a single visit"

And no one blinks at the fact that it's possible to run up such a bill on chest pains in a single visit? Let's put things into perspective here! We can complain about the 'users' of the system, but they are few and far between compared to those (read: the rest of us) who get stiffed by the unjustifiable and inhumane cost of care in the USA. Puh-leeze. Bring the costs down to reasonable (meaning insurance companies, manufacturers and doctors do away with their gazillion percent profits) and then tell me about the users. Until then, I really don't care. I'm almost tempted to say 'good for them', as unreasonable as that is!

[Phxfire]

1. Its not an 'Obama' caused problem, so back that truck up. Universal care is about providing health care when its needed, it has nothing to do with rewarding abuse of the system. If you want to point political fingers, how about the madness in Medicare and the Veterans? Something the conservatives in the Administration and Congress chose to ignore for 8 years, too much invested by many of the same people we should have expected and received reform from...(they and their lobbyist friends).
2. Drug treatment programs are largely volunary. You can provide the information and assistance, but they have to agree to participate.
3. The biggest abusers aren't illegal immigrants. Its the US citizens who aren't covered by insurance, aren't paying taxes and use the ER as a clinic for non-emergencies. These are facts, not hysterical and bigoted opinions.

[panamasandy]

If the patients were "drug seeking" wouldn't it have been cheaper and more effective to refer them to drug treatment?

[workingmom3]

I am really glad that they finally looked into this. I work in the field and constantly see these "freguent flyers" who are doing nothing more but milking a system that does not keep track of their abuse, and they are not all mentally ill, most are just looking for the best drugs. Now Mr. Obama how do you intend to fix this in your universal coverage?

[mollydtt]

You never want to go to an ER. Even if you are close to death, the wait time alone will kill you. I have had to take my daughter to the ER twice over the past 18 years, and I felt extremely lucky to only have to wait a couple of hours each time.
Someone said that the state pays for the health costs incurred by illegal aliens. Actually, it is the hospital district (county or city) that covers the cost.

[bobnjersey]

[In the Austin cases, the overusing patients usually complained of chest pains, at times running up diagnostic bills of $20,000 in a single visit, and forcing other patients to wait. ]

gee ... i've complained about chest pains and they give me a chest xray ... which costs $75. what are they doing that costs $20k?