Addressing UNC Health Southeastern Emergency Department overcrowding

ED overcrowding has become a major issue for many hospitals, especially those in rural areas, due to overutilization by patients with non-emergent medical needs. The UNC Health Southeastern Hospital ED is the only hospital-based ED in Robeson County and experiences 5,148 preventable hospital stays per 100,000 visit — twice as many as the state average (2,670 per 100,000).

To mitigate unnecessary hospital stays and overcrowding, UNC Health needs to allocate funding to co-locate an urgent care (UC) clinic with Southeastern Hospital’s ED. An UC clinic that has high visibility and convenient proximity to the ED will deter insured patients with non-emergent medical needs from unnecessarily seeking care at the ED in lieu of more efficient and affordable care at the UC clinic. Although the probl