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Rapid Medical Evaluation Program©
Best Practice Success Stories CEP’s Rapid Medical Evaluation Program© (RME) has received national attention as a successful and proven methodology for decreasing patient wait time in the Emergency Department (ED). The RME Program, first implemented in 2002, fundamentally changes the way patients are treated in the ED. Under RME, the treatment process is fluid, adjusting based on demand and resource availability to ensure treatment is provided as quickly as possible. The treatment process begins immediately, including an initial assessment, ordering of labs and X-rays, and in some cases, rapid discharge without utilizing an ED bed. When available, patients are placed immediately in a bed and examined by a physician. As highlighted in the case studies below, the RME approach has had a significant impact on CEP’s EDs. Every CEP-contracted ED that has implemented RME has seen a substantial decrease in Time to Provider (TTP), with site reductions ranging from 10-80 minutes. CEP EDs have also dramatically decreased the rate of patients who left without being seen (LWBS). Patient satisfaction has continued to climb across CEP sites, and many of our practice locations are ranked in the top 10% of similar sites nationwide. The introduction of RME has resulted in overall increased revenues on both the hospital and provider sides. These improvements have occurred regardless of size, payer mix, patient profile mix, and geographic layout of the ED, including large sites, urban sites, small EDs with large populations, and rural EDs. For more information on CEP and the Rapid Medical Evaluation Program©, call (800) 476-1504. Detailed case studies follow, illustrating how RME has impacted CEP EDs.
Case Study 1: This 99-bed, acute care facility decreased its TTP to 8 minutes and increased its Press Ganey Patient Satisfaction Percentile Ranking from the 25th to the 85th percentile.
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