Reduce the proportion of persons who delay or have difficulty in getting emergency medical care.
Emergency services are a vital part of access to health care in the United States.
All population groups, regardless of their socioeconomic, health, or insurance status, want to know that emergency services will be available and will function quickly and effectively when needed. A significant component of this objective is to reduce the proportion of people whose access to emergency services is blocked by their health insurance coverage or payment policies. These policies affect access to hospital emergency departments and, in some instances, use of prehospital emergency services. Typically, these policies stipulate that unless an enrollee s condition is life threatening, the enrollee or the ED must obtain authorization before an ED visit or risk that a claim for services will be denied. In some cases, claims for ED visits can be denied retroactively if they are deemed medically unnecessary.