Reducing Nonemergent Visits to the Emergency Department in a Veterans Affairs Multistate System.

Study Objective: The purpose of this quality improvement study was to reduce nonemergent visits to the emergency department attendance within a multistate Veterans Health Affairs network.

Methods: Telephone triage protocols were developed and implemented for registered nurse staff to triage selected calls to a same-day telephonic or video virtual visit with a provider (physician or nurse practitioner). Calls, registered nurse triage dispositions, and provider visit dispositions were tracked for 3 months.