The Use of Point-of-care Ultrasound in Emergency Medical Centers in Korea: a National Cross-sectional Survey

Impact of Insurance Benefits and Education on Point-of-Care Ultrasound Use in a Single Emergency Department: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis

“…POCUS is known to be very useful for primary patient care in the medical field [8,9,24], leading to the conduct of several studies related to its use. However, most were conducted in the form of a survey involving the medical workforce [11,[14][15][16][17], without evaluating the impact of some factors on the use of POCUS. Although this study was conducted in a single institute, it is meaningful that ITS analysis was performed on specific factors using five years of actual medical records, and we identified the expansion of insurance coverage and ultrasound education had a significant effect on the immediate increase in the use of POCUS.…”

“…Some studies have identified that the inability to receive ultrasound expenses serves as a barrier to the use of POCUS [14,16]. In addition, some studies have shown that the frequency of ultrasound use has increased since the introduction of reimbursement claims or education on billing practices [19,27,28].…”

“…However, unlike other imaging procedures, an ultrasound in our ED must be performed individually by a physician who determines and orders it to be necessary. Therefore, emergency medical staff cannot afford to perform unnecessary ultrasounds in such an overcrowded environment [16]. Furthermore, the majority of EUS were performed on patients with high severity according to KTAS level, and ultrasounds that could supplement computed tomography images such as echocardiography, lung ultrasound, and eFAST were mainly used; thus, ultrasounds were performed only in necessary medical situations.…”

“…Major barriers to its use are related to infrastructure, such as equipment, faculty, and manpower, as well as education, such as ultrasound scanning skills and interpretation. In addition, there are obstacles associated with reporting and billing ultrasound results [14][15][16][17][18]. However, previous studies have been performed through surveys [11,[14][15][16][17] or using reimbursement claims data [19,20].…”

“…In addition, there are obstacles associated with reporting and billing ultrasound results [14][15][16][17][18]. However, previous studies have been performed through surveys [11,[14][15][16][17] or using reimbursement claims data [19,20]. To the best of our knowledge, no study has analyzed the impact of the introduction of specific factors on the use of POCUS in the clinical setting.…”