Hospital Administrators :: Rapid Medical Evaluation (RME)

CEP America's RME Program is revolutionizing patient flow and ED efficiency throughout the nation at a wide variety of sites.

Please review our RME Case Studies and discover the "10 Ways RME can Transform Your ED".

Case Studies

What Satisfied Clients Say About CEP America and RME

10 WAYS RME CAN TRANSFORM YOUR ED

(1) Time to Provider

Time to Provider (TTP) is the single most influential factor on patient satisfaction. CEP America's (CEP) Rapid Medical Evaluation Program^® (RME) fundamentally changes the way patients are treated in the Emergency Department (ED). Under RME, the treatment process is fluid and based on demand and resource availability to ensure that treatment is provided as quickly as possible.

(2) Patient Elopements

The application of our proprietary Rapid Medical Evaluation Program^® has proven time and again to be successful in dramatically decreasing the number of patients that leave without being seen and thereby increasing hospital revenue. With the revenue per patient averaging $375 (per CHA), this can represent a significant increase to the hospital bottom line.

(3) Patient Satisfaction

As the ED is the window to the hospital, improved patient satisfaction no doubt enhances the reputation of the hospital as a whole. Lower patient wait times achieved through RME translate into higher patient satisfaction levels. CEP client hospitals frequently score in the upper percentiles of patient satisfaction and in many cases at the very top of their respective cohorts.

(4) Ambulance Diversion

Many patients who arrive by ambulance are sicker than the average and more often hospitalized. The loss of even a few of these patients on a regular basis can impact the hospital's bottom line significantly. Depending upon the level of diversion you are experiencing, significant revenue may be captured with an efficiently run ED and fewer diversion hours.

(5) Increased Patient Volume

Time is precious to all in this day and age. A reputation for expeditious service develops quickly for EDs using the RME program, and "word-of-mouth" soon brings more patients to your ED doors.

(6) Virtual ED Expansion

Our RME process allows patients to be evaluated by the appropriate provider in an appropriate area and thus seen and treated more rapidly. Many patients present in the ED never have to occupy a bed in the main ED. In effect, RME immediately expands the ED with minimal physical improvements, thus saving future hospital construction costs. At one of our client sites caring for close to 100,000 patients per year, 50% of the patients are cared for in the RME area - less than 10% of the ED space.

(7) Patient Safety

The cumulative effect of decreased TTP and increases patient satisfaction is fewer claims, less waiting room incidents, fewer potential EMTALA issues, and faster pick-ups on unstable patients. With today's high legal costs, RME's ability to decrease risk is often as valuable as its ability to increase efficiency.

(8) Improved Nurse Retention

A corollary of RME to rapid care is the more efficient utilization of nurses and the elimination of many nurse hours that are required for compliance with many regulated state and healthcare system nurse:patient ratios. For example, by seeing, caring for and discharging a patient directly, and eliminating the need to count that patient as being in a bed in the ED, significant nurse hours may be reduced in the ED. Nurses find professional satisfaction with a career in an efficiently run ED, thus lowering hospital recruitment and retention costs.

(9) Improved RN-MD Teamwork

CEP America has a formal Physician-Nurse Relationship Program. Nurses and ED Staff are surveyed on a regular basis to obtain input and feedback on how we can continue to enhance this relationship. CEP is committed to leading process improvement not only in the emergency department but throughout the hospital. We have found that by developing multidisciplinary process committees (often called EPIC, for Emergency Department Process Improvement Committee), and empowering all members of the ED team including ancillary services personnel, we have been able to improve the department efficiency and service. A quote from one of our client ED Nurse Managers sums up the effectiveness of our teamwork, "I feel they (CEP) are the main reason we have all the positions full and people waiting to sign on!"

(10) Increased Hospital Revenue

When we implement RME, drop the LWBS, improve patient satisfaction, and decrease diversion time, etc., then we directly impact the acuity, the volume and the payer mix, resulting in more patients, more referrals and more procedures. Coincidentally, this also helps attract and retain desired specialists which will further enhance the capability of the hospital and cement its reputation as a premier hospital!