Dr. Eric Whitaker, Obama Friend And University Of Chicago Hospital Executive, Defends Controversial ER Policy

Dr. Eric Whitaker, a close friend of President Obama's and an executive at the University of Chicago Medical Center, defended the South Side hospital's controversial policy of sending patients elsewhere for primary care while speaking at a City Club luncheon Monday, the Sun-Times' Abdon Pallasch reports.

"You should not use the emergency department as the place to get primary care," Whitaker said. "For some reason, this is controversial. Emergency rooms should be used for emergencies. I'm shocked we should be getting into debates about this. An emergency room visit is $1,000. A doctor's visit is $100."

The hospital's Urban Health Initiative has come under strong criticism for diverting neighborhood patients, many of whom are lower-income minorities who use the emergency room for primary care, to other hospitals to clear space for what Pallasch called "the more challenging -- and potentially more lucrative -- cases such as cancer and transplants that the university has a national reputation for treating."

Whitaker, who was responding to a question on the policy from former State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, said the goal was to ensure the hospital's financial well-being in a difficult economic climate and keep the emergency room from being used for non-emergency care.

Last month, University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer sent an internal memo stating that a committee will "review, refine and modify" the Urban Health Initiative.

First Lady Michelle Obama, then a hospital vice president, and Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, who was chairman of the board, were involved in the creation and approval of the original plan.

Whitaker also said Monday that he has talked about health care with Obama and assured the audience that the "issue of community health has been on his radar screen."

Comments

[euthman]

Dr. Whitaker is perfectly correct, I'm afraid. Emergency rooms should not be used for non-emergent conditions, hence the name. Patients who report to ERs need to be triaged for acuity, and those who do not require immediate attention can be referred to outpatient clinics. Using ERs as clinics is a gross mismanagement of resources. One reason that so many middle-class people can't afford insurance is that their premium dollars go to fund care for the uninsured who take every runny nose and sore throat to the ER. -- Ed Uthman, MD

[OYea]

There are PLENTY of times that emergency rooms are NOT being used for non-emergent situations and patients are STILL not getting adequate care. It happened to me and I have witnessed it happening to MANY other people... including watching a man profusely bleeding and doubling over in pain and still being required to wait sitting in a chair rather than even being placed on a gurney!

Here... chew on this...

http://www.idph.state.il.us/hcja/transcripts/d8_04_05_06.pdf

While you're at it... explain how Illinois receives an "F" for providing DD & MH services and ranks 51st(!!!) when it comes to receiving funding!

https://www.cu.edu/ColemanInstitute/stateofthestates/IL2006.pdf

http://www.accessliving.org/index.php?tray=release&tid=top850&cid=253

http://illinoiscorruption.blogspot.com/search/label/Medicaid

Given the amount of "care" that many uninsured and disabled are receiving... the money is most definitely NOT being used for many of them!

Your attempt to lay blame regarding the lack of affordable insurance for the middle class on those who are uninsured is a smoke screen that just doesn't fly anymore!

[OYea]

You wanna talk about a gross mismanagement of resources? How about the tremendous amount of money that would be saved if patients were properly evaluated, diagnosed and treated when a problem first presents itself... instead of resorting to short-sited fiscal decisions that result in what might be a simple and easily correctable illness if caught early that instead turns into an extraordinarily costly medical nightmare that results in disability, long-term skilled nursing care and even death?

Do you have any comments on people with disabilities being kept out of sight and warehoused indefinitely in institutions instead of receiving health care and services that would allow them to live more independent and productive lives... at even GREATER expense to tax-payers?

And since when were physicians more invested in making fiscal decisions (poor ones, I might add) instead of honoring their oath to care for the sick?!

Since far too many physicians have forgotten it... here's a refresher for you!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_modern.html

[Mormon4Truth]

My insurance company, BLUE SHIELD, tells me on weekends and afterhours to go to the ER. Wven if it is not an emergency. So the use of the ER as a treatment center is what big business is supporting. And how can we fight what our fine Univeristy of Chicago-inspired economic system is doing for us. Maybe those west of Ellis Avenue (the hospital) should start conversing with those east of Ellis (the econ department) and those south of the midway (the law school and Graduate School of Business).

[sciphy]

Patients are being redirected from U of C not based on diagnosis or medical needs. They are being redirected based on their insurance status. Medicaid patients are first to go. Medicare are next.
They cannot redirect patients who don't have insurance since that is an EMTALA violation.
They are also not shipping away patients to outpatient clinics. They are shifting patients to other hospitals such as Mercy and Holy Cross. These are the facts. It's based on insurance.

[OYea]

Here's how they get around EMTALA... they give cover-their-a$$ tests that are insufficient to determine the problem, then when the tests come back negative they pretend everything is normal, they then give an outrageous simpleton diagnosis such as Headache or Nausea... and if you DARE get angry and challenge them because you know full well what they're doing... they then refer you to a damn psychiatrist! Again.... this is not only happening at UofC! I experienced the exact same thing at 5 Chicago area hospitals as my condition became progressively worse over the course of several months! The "healthcare" system has NOTHING to do with HEALTH or CARE anymore! It is strictly BIG BUSINESS!!!

[JFaye]

When emergency rooms are used primarily for "emergencies" it keeps the costs of medical care down for everyone. When my son is taken to our community ER for seizures, the cost is one-third of what the insurance company is billed when we have found ourselves in an inner-city ER.

There is nothing controversial about this policy if it provides more efficient use of the health care system; including hospital staff and insurance dollars.

[OYea]

Sure makes you wonder where all that money is going?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/10/charity-hospitals-getting_n_185802.html

[petphotos]

Spent over 10 years taking patients to ER's and working in ER's. All of this makes perfect sense. Better access to Primary Care is what is needed. That has to be a goal. Prompt treatment ends up lowering healthcare costs. Going to the ER is not a cost effective nor efficient method of treatment.

My time spent in the ambulance side of the business never once involved the subject of insurance.

[OYea]

This is not intended as a slight on President Obama... but some of the information in this article is utter rubbish! Slightly ill? Primary care? I was at the UofC Hospital ER... where I was informed that I needed to be seen as soon as possible by a neurologist. HOWEVER... because my SSDI had just been approved, which automatically qualified me for Medicaid but required the formality of processing the damn paperwork, the head of the ER would not allow a neurologist to even look at me! I was then referred to the UofC neurology clinic and assured that I would be eligible for services as soon as my Medicaid was approved. I contacted the public aide office and was given an emergency letter indicating approval of my Medicaid status. When I then contacted the UofC neurology clinic... I was informed by a "patient advocate" that they were not accepting new patients in either their neurology or primary care clinics! BULLOCKS! They were not accepting MEDICAID patients in those clinics! Instead I was referred to a community clinic were I was given an appointment with a nurse practitioner! In the meantime... my condition continued to deteriorate resulting in yet further damage to my brain! If that's the UofC Hospital's idea of slightly ill... their doctors need to go back to med school! And UofC is NOT alone in thisI I encountered similar practices at 5 Chicago area hospitals! Let there PR teams come up with excuses for THAT!

[euthman]

Many good doctors don't accept Medicaid once their practice gets revved up. The reimbursement is so low that it doesn't even cover office expenses. While some docs to accept Medicaid out of the goodness of their heart, they have to limit the proportion of Medicaid patients to stay afloat. The only alternative is to run a Medicaid mill in which patients are herded through the clinic en masse, with insufficient contact time to allow proper evaluation.--Ed Uthman, MD

[montecarlo408]

What's so controversial about that? That's how the hospital is able to give better care to those who are really sick. If we had universal healthcare, people wouldn't go to the emergency room for things they could go to a doctor for in an office.

Why does the media insist on trying to link someone, ANYONE, to the President? The six degrees of separation thing didn't work during the campaign, and it works even less now.

[bubbuh]

It's only "controversial" to those who are looking for mud to throw.