The emergency department is an ideal place to enroll uninsured children in government-provided health coverage programs, according to a new study.

The emergency room is where most of the more than 8 million children living in the U.S. without health insurance go for health care. The great majority of these children - 80 percent - are eligible for low-cost or free health care coverage under Medicaid or the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

In a pilot study, Dr. Prashant Mahajan of Children’s Hospital of Michigan, Detroit and colleagues hired a well-trained, dedicated worker to determine the eligibility of uninsured children visiting the emergency department at that institution, and to facilitate their enrollment in the appropriate program.

During the 10-month study, 4,667 children visited the ER during enrollment hours, 1083 (39 percent) applied for health insurance and 84 percent of them got it, the team reports in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.

In 67 percent of cases, the children were enrolled in the Medicaid program.

A cost analysis showed that the program paid for itself through the hospital’s increased revenue from successful enrollment. After accounting for program costs, total annual net revenue was more than $157,000.

Summing up, Mahajan told AMN Health that the findings show that “the emergency department is an excellent site for outreach, and each hospital - especially those that act as safety nets in their communities - should consider implementing similar programs.”

SOURCE: Annals of Emergency Medicine, December 9th online issue, 2004.