Advantages for Hospitals, Emergency Resource Management Inc., A part of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Advantages for Hospitals

For community hospitals, filling emergency departments with patients usually is not a problem. Filling EDs with enough doctors can be. Emergency Resource Management Inc. (ERMI), a part of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), can meet the unique challenge to recruit, retain, and reward qualified emergency physicians who practice in community hospitals.

At ERMI, we balance the needs of community hospitals with the goals of our emergency physicians. ERMI delivers high-quality emergency care both consistently and cost-effectively and provides physicians with challenging, rewarding career opportunities. ERMI has become a leader in western Pennsylvania's health care market and provides high-quality emergency physician services for some of the region's finest community hospitals.

A subsidiary of UPMC, we are owned and managed locally, unlike some large, multi-site emergency care providers. In ERMI, you get an emergency services organization that is based nearby, yet one backed by an academic medical center with a worldwide reputation. For acute care hospitals searching for the right emergency services provider or for emergency physicians seeking excellent career opportunities, there's no better combination.

World-Class Management at Great Savings

Because ERMI’s management fee is lower than our competitors’, hospitals can save thousands of dollars and still provide the finest emergency care available. Our management strategies enhance revenue, giving hospitals a strong emergency department that can help increase admissions and benefit the entire hospital.

Staffing Stability
Physician turnover can be a common problem for emergency departments. To ensure low turnover rates, ERMI places a strong emphasis on balancing physician workloads and maintaining a low patient-to-physician ratio.

ERMI fosters interdepartmental relationships, physician-patient relationships, and continuity of care that maintains and preserves intra- and interhospital patient referral patterns. Our medical director and physicians are committed to the hospital’s success and work and serve on a variety of hospital committees, including medical executive, pharmacy and therapeutics, risk management, safety, critical care, disaster management, and education.

Medical and Legal Services
Insurance and fees for other legal services can consume a large portion of an emergency department’s operating budget. Staying on top of legal issues can be time consuming as well. ERMI pays malpractice insurance for employed physicians and assists with developing policies related to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act and Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.

Quality Improvement Initiatives
Excessively long waiting lines and lengths of stay for patients are all too common and can keep patients from returning to a hospital, whether it’s an emergency or planned treatment. To be successful, hospitals must be able to analyze what causes delays and develop time-saving strategies. ERMI works with emergency departments to decrease patient turnaround time and adjusts the design of the department to ensure optimal work flow.

In addition, we provide EKG and x-ray discrepancy review and compile monthly reports with comparative data for issues such as patient elopements, patients who leave against medical advice, emergency department length of stay, and physician visits per hour. We also consult with payers on the latest clinical pathways and provide nursing and non-nursing educational lectures to help ensure patients receive the best and most appropriate care. ERMI works with primary care physicians to better coordinate patient care and conserve emergency department resources.

Collection Services
ERMI handles all physician billing and document coding and works with all participating payers at the hospital. Our denial management program further enhances revenue by insisting on full payment for all emergency care provided.

Documentation Compliance
One small error in coding or a missing signature can result in thousands of dollars of lost revenues. ERMI conducts ongoing educational sessions for physicians and staff to improve documentation and monitor adherence to documentation policies every month. We also provide consultation on documentation tools and offer the highest levels of documentation review to enhance revenue and ensure compliance with state and federal regulations.

Patient Satisfaction
Patients demand the best inservice as well as health care. ERMI regularly monitors patient complaints and works with hospitals to address them quickly. Reducing waiting times and length of stay is important, but good communication is essential to keeping patients satisfied. To provide peace of mind for patients and their families, we stress communication between our physicians and patients, their families, and primary care physicians.

Facility Planning
The most visible part of any emergency department is its patient waiting area. For staff and patients, nothing looks worse than a waiting room full of frustrated and angry people. In addition, procedures that create obstacles for staff only make matters worse. ERMI can assist in ergonomic design, promoting maximum efficiency as well as patient and staff convenience.