Care plans reduce ED visits in those with drug-seeking behavior.

Unlabelled: Patients with drug-seeking behavior can be both labor and resource intensive to the emergency department (ED).

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of ED care plans for individuals at high risk for drug-seeking behavior on ED visits.

Methods: A retrospective, cohort observational study.

Location: A suburban teaching hospital with an annual census of 80,000 patients. The number of ED visits was determined 1 year before and 2 subsequent years following care plan initiation.

Exclusion Criteria: Unclaimed letter, incomplete data, and/or non-drug-seeking care plan.

Statistics: Two-tailed Wilcoxon signed-rank test with significance of P < .05.

Results: Sixty patients were enrolled and 7 were excluded, leaving 53 patients for analysis. Mean annual visits before care plan initiation were 7.6 (95% confidence interval [CI], 6.3-9.1). One year following implementation, mean visits decreased to 2.3 (95% CI, 1.5-3.1) (P ≤ .0001). Two years following implementation, mean visits continued to decline to 1.5 (95% CI, 0.9-2.1) (P ≤ .0001). A significant reduction in visits occurred 1 and 2 years following care plan implementation.

Conclusions: Emergency department care plans are an effective method to reduce ED visits in those with drug-seeking behavior.