Programs & Services

Emergency Room Diversion Program

Connecticut has received a federal grant from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of nearly $800,000 to promote the use of Federally Qualifed Community Health Centers (FQHCs) by patients who now go to hospital emergency rooms for routine medical needs, clogging the urgent-care system and driving up costs.

The program connects providers in six FQHCs and six hospitals through a common web-based platform to search and schedule appointments for non-emergency patients. The web-based application, My Health Direct, was created by Global Health Direct, Inc. The Community Health Center Association of Connecticut, the Connecticut membership association for FQHCs, leads the project under contract with the Department of Social Services.

The My Health Direct system enables patients to be scheduled for appointments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Each referred patient leaves the emergency department with a written confirmation of his or her primary care appointment in hand. Patient confirmations are printed in the patient’s language of choice, and contain the day and time of the appointment, along with the name, address, and telephone number of the clinic. The confirmation specifies the bus lines that operate near the community health center. The confirmation contains all of the information that the patient needs in relation to the appointment, and increases the likelihood that they will attend their appointment.

Use of My Health Direct will reduce the repeated utilization of hospital emergency departments by non-emergency Medicaid patients and thereby reduce cost to the Medicaid program, a federal/state health coverage program for low-income residents. Uninsured patients will also benefit from referrals to federally-qualified health centers in their community, which provide a full range of medical, dental and mental health services to patients, regardless of their ability to pay. It will also allow hospital emergency departments to allocate a greater share of their resources to patients with emergency conditions. Patients will be engaged in the selection of their primary care “medical home” to ensure that it meets their immediate and ongoing needs.

For more information, contact Amanda Beyus.