Descriptive analysis and evaluation of Health Link referrals to the emergency department before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Ian R Cooper; Andrew Schmaus; Tara A Whitten; Jeffery A Bakal; Fayaz Kurji; Denise Watt; Eddy Lang

doi:10.1007/s11739-023-03527-x

Descriptive analysis and evaluation of Health Link referrals to the emergency department before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Intern Emerg Med. 2024 Feb 22. doi: 10.1007/s11739-023-03527-x. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Ian R Cooper¹, Andrew Schmaus², Tara A Whitten^{3

4

5}, Jeffery A Bakal^{3

4

5}, Fayaz Kurji³, Denise Watt^{3

6}, Eddy Lang^{2

3

6}

Affiliations

¹ Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N1, Canada. ian.cooper1@ucalgary.ca.
² Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 4N1, Canada.
³ Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
⁴ Alberta Strategy for Patient Oriented Research Support Unit Data Platform, Calgary, AB, Canada.
⁵ Provincial Research Data Services, Calgary, AB, Canada.
⁶ Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.

PMID: 38386095
DOI: 10.1007/s11739-023-03527-x

Abstract

Background: In Alberta, Health Link (HL) provides a 24-h, nurse-staffed, phone resource to the public for health-care advice. HL directs callers to either seek care in the emergency department (ED), with a primary care provider or provide self-care at home. This work aims to describe HL ED referrals prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Data from January 1, 2018-December 31, 2019, and July 1, 2020-June 30, 2022, were selected. HL calls were categorized as likely appropriate if the patient was referred and presented to the ED within 24 h and had a Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS) of 1-3; or a CTAS of 4-5 and the patient was admitted, specialist consulted, or diagnostic imaging or laboratory tests were completed. The primary outcome was the percentage of likely appropriate referrals among all HL ED referrals.

Results: In the 2018-2019 and 2020-2022 samples, respectively, there were 845,372 and 832,730 calls. Of the 211,723 and 213,486 ED referrals, only 140,614 (66.4%) and 143,322 (67.1%) presented to an ED. Of these, 84.3 and 86.7 per 100 patient visits were categorized as likely appropriate referrals. Health Link referrals account for 3.2% and 3.8% of all ED visits.

Impact: HL referrals to the ED represent only a small percentage of all ED visits. Based on our definition, most referrals by HL are likely appropriate. The COVID-19 pandemic does not appear to have altered the rates of calls to HL, the number of HL calls referred to the ED, nor the likely appropriateness of those referrals.

Keywords: Emergency medicine; Tele-triage; Telehealth.