Enhancing Value-Based Care With a Walk-in Clinic: A Primary Care Provider Intervention to Decrease Low Acuity Emergency Department Overutilization

had a walk-in clinic visit at the family practice. ED visits were tracked from January 2018 to January 2020 and encounters were compared numbers to pre and post-implementation of a walk-in clinic. Cost savings for comparable management was estimated with average price differences for low acuity encounters in the ED versus clinic. Results Over the two-year timeframe, there were 10, 962 total visits to the ED by family practice patients, 4, 250 of these visits were low acuity. Despite gross monthly increases of EDU from 2018-2020, after implementation of a walk-in clinic in 2019, rates of total EDU decreased by 1. 5% and low acuity utilization rates also decreased. The average annual patient census nearly doubled from 5, 763 to 8, 042. T-tests confirmed statistical significance with p-values <0. 05. Average low acuity ED visits (437) cost 4. 9 times more than comparable PCP office visits (91). Managing 2, 387 patients in the walk-in clinic resulted in an estimated annual cost savings of 825, 902. Conclusion Extended walk-in availability in primary care offices provides non-ED capacity for low acuity management and might mitigate low acuity ED utilization while providing more cost-effective care. This study supports similarly described pre-hospital diversions in reducing ED over-utilization by increasing access to care. Higher levels of evidence are needed to establish causality.