Do out-of-hours general practitioner services and emergency departments cost more by collaborating or by working separately? A cost analysis.

INTRODUCTION In the Netherlands, general practitioners (GPs) and emergency departments (EDs) collaborate increasingly in urgent care collaborations (UCCs) in which the two services share one combined entrance and joint triage. AIM The objective of this study is to determine if UCCs are cost-effective compared to the usual care setting where out-of-hours GP services and EDs work separately. METHODS This observational study compared UCCs with the usual care setting on costs by performing linear regression analyses.

Do employees benefit from collaborations between out of hours general practitioners and emergency departments?

Background: In an attempt to redirect patients who are inappropriately attending hospital emergency departments (ED) and in doing so provide the right care at the right place, out-of-hours GP (General Practitioner) services and EDs increasingly collaborate in Urgent Care Collaborations (UCCs). Work satisfaction is an important factor in analysing the impact of this organisational change. The objective of this study is, firstly, to discover if there is a difference in the employee experiences between those working in UCCs and those in traditional out-of-hours services in which EDs and out-of-hours GP services operate separately (i.

Is patient flow more efficient in Urgent Care Collaborations?

Objective: Emergency Departments and out-of-hours General Practitioner services collaborate increasingly in Urgent Care Collaborations (UCCs) by sharing one combined entrance and joint triage. The aim of this study is to examine the difference between UCCs and providers who operate separately with respect to the efficiency of patient flow.

Methods: This study had a cross-sectional observational design comparing three regions with UCC with three regions with usual care.

Out-of-Hours Care Collaboration between General Practitioners and Hospital Emergency Departments in the Netherlands.

Objective: In the Netherlands, general practitioners (GPs) and emergency departments (EDs) collaborate increasingly in what is called an Urgent Care Collaboration (UCC). In UCCs, GPs and EDs share 1 combined entrance and joint triage. The objective of this study was to determine if GPs treat a larger proportion of out-of-hours patients in the UCC system, and how this relates to patient characteristics.