CoxHealth’s north facility changes back to ER

The ER became a 24-hour Urgent Care Center last July when CoxHealth’s north campus medical-surgical services, including inpatient beds, were relocated as part of the health system’s redevelopment plan for that campus. State regulations would have required Cox North to maintain its medical-surgical inpatient beds to qualify as an ER, according to a CoxHealth news release.

Since the switch, however, the hospital has monitored patient traffic and demand for 24-hour services at the north campus and has concluded that changing it back to an ER would improve patient services and save money in reimbursements.

In August, CoxHealth applied to have the licenses for its north and south hospitals consolidated into a single license. That change means CoxHealth no longer needs to have inpatient medical-surgical beds at its north campus to qualify as an ER.

When the facility returns to ER status, it will be able to accept patients by ambulance.

The ER also will be able to return to billing at ER rates, which will allow the health system to receive better reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid and group and private insurance. Continued billing at urgent-care rates would create an estimated loss of $6.2 million, compared to an estimated $3.7 million loss as an ER, according to the release.

Staffing at the north campus is not expected to change.