Care guide use for repeated non-emergent complaints and its effect on emergency department visit frequency

Several data points were collected and analyzed: the number of ED encounters in the last 12 months prior-to and three months after ED CG initiation; the number of primary care provider encounters 12 months prior-to, and 3 months after ED CG initiation; chief complaint at time of CG initiation, and number of previous visits for that same complaint prior to initiation; and finally, demographic information such as age, gender and insurance provider. [...]there are no universal criteria for establishing a CG. [...]there may be many patients who could benefit from a CG who have not been assigned one, and others that may not have had an impactful decline in visit numbers because they were prematurely assigned a CG. CG chief complaint Frequency Percent Visit change Extremity complaint 41 14.2 −0.54 Nausea/vomiting 26 9.0 −0.57 Abdominal complaint 26 9.0 −0.49 Other 25 8.7 1.10 Vaginal complaint 23 8.0 −0.71 Urinary complaint 20 6.9 −0.56 Back/neck pain 16 5.6 −0.26 Respiratory complaint 15 5.2 −0.48 Suicidal/psych 13 4.5 −0.41 Weakness 13 4.5 −0.74 Wound complaint 11 3.8 −0.68 URI/throat/sinus 10 3.5 −0.57 Skin complaint 10 3.5 −0.11 Migraine/headache 10 3.5 −0.37 Post-op complaint 8 2.8 −0.64 Withdrawal 7 2.4 0.03 Seizure 7 2.4 −0.46 Rectal bleed 5 1.7 −0.37 Dental pain 2 0.7 −0.39 Total 288 100 Table 1 Chief complaints leading to CG initiation, and change-per-month after initiation.