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Massachusetts Employers Push To Reduce Emergency Room Use, Save Money

A treatment area in the emergency room at Bay State Medical Center in Springfield, MA
WAMC

     A new business coalition in Massachusetts is trying to lower health care costs by targeting overuse of hospital emergency rooms.

    Led by the 4000-member Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the coalition will produce a workplace campaign about seeking medical care in the right places. 

   AIM vice president Christopher Geehern said the goal is a 20 percent reduction in avoidable ER use over two years.

     "Everytime someone walks into an emergency room the average cost of that visit is more than $1,200," said Geehern.

    A study from the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission found that 42 percent of all emergency department visits in 2015 were avoidable as people sought treatment for common complaints such as stomach pain, skin rashes, and tooth aches.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.