Utilization review. Emergency medicine implications.

The medical profession has made utilization review a priority in its efforts to limit health care expenditures. In emergency medicine this has ranged from initiatives to limit inappropriate emergency department visits to guidelines to limit emergency department testing and criteria to limit hospital admissions. The emergency department observation unit is an area in which the emergency physicians follow these practice guidelines without compromising patient care. The emergency department utilization review/quality assurance committee is a management tool by which emergency physicians monitor and implement these strategies for cost-effective patient care.