Regionalization of emergency care services -- in which patients are directed not just to the nearest hospital, but to the nearest facility with the best resources to handle his or her particular needs -- can improve health outcomes, mitigate overcrowding, and reduce costs, the reports say. The committee urged federal agencies to develop criteria to classify all emergency medical services and EDs in each community on the basis of their capabilities. Regional collaboration would also mean that not every hospital has to maintain on-call services for every specialty, which would help address shortages caused by the dwindling number of specialists willing to take emergency calls.
The report series was sponsored by the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine provides independent, objective, evidence-based advice to policymakers, health professionals, the private sector, and the public. A committee roster follows.
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Pre-publication copies of The Future of Emergency Care series, which includes Emergency Care Services at the Crossroads, Emergency Care for Children: Growing Pains, and Hospital-Based Emergency Care: At the Breaking Point, are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu.
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