ED navigators steer patients with social, financial, or behavioral health needs to appropriate resources.

Especially in times of economic distress, patients who lack health care connections tend to wind up in the ED. However, administrators at Sutter General and Sutter Memorial hospitals in Sacramento, CA, have discovered that by pairing these patients with ED navigators, they can be plugged into appropriate resources and follow-up care so that they are less likely to return to the ED for non-emergent problems. The ED navigators are employees of The Effort, the regional federally qualified health center (FQHC), but they are located in each of the hospitals' EDs. The navigators can schedule same-day or next-day appointments for patients with a provider at one of the FQHC's clinics. The ED navigator program works in concert with theTriage, Transport, and Treatment (T3) program, a similar program also run by the FQHC that targets frequent ED users with more complex needs. Studies show theT3 program has reduced return visits to the ED by 65%.