Patients at four of Vancouver Coastal Health’s emergency departments are receiving faster access to care thanks to a new incentive-based pilot project. The Emergency Decongestion Pilot started in October 2007 at Lions Gate, Richmond, Vancouver General and St. Paul's hospitals as a pay-for-performance experiment. The goal was to see if funding incentives would help decrease the time patients wait for care in emergency department.
While similar to other projects in the United States and Britain, this is the first of its kind in Canada. Under this pilot, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) and Providence Health Care (PHC) will receive additional funding from the provincial government for every emergency department patient seen within a specific target time. “The results of our Emergency Decongestion Pilot have been tremendous,” said Ida Goodreau, President and CEO of Vancouver Coastal Health. “In some cases we are seeing over 25% more patients experiencing shorter wait times in the emergency department, resulting in less time spent in hospital and more positive patient experiences.”
The funds received from the provincial government through this pilot project do not go to individual doctors or others, but to the hospitals involved, so they can fund things like equipment and staff to help further improve patient flow throughout the health region. Because of the success of this pilot, Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care to have been able to keep patients flowing through the hospital system at a time when demand continues to grow. Emergency departments see an average of 600 people per day, with the number of patients admitted already around 6% higher than this time last year.
“That we can help people receive the care they need more rapidly without negatively impacting their care and outcomes is testimony to how well the entire health system can work together with the right creativity and the right incentives,” said Dr. Jeff Coleman, VCH Chief Operating Officer for Richmond and an Emergency Department physician.
