Emergency Department Visit Rates by Selected Characteristics: United States, 2021

Details

• Personal Author:
  Cairns, Christopher ; Ashman, Jill J. ; King, J.M.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Center for Health Statistics (U.S.)
• Description:
  In 2021, 140 million emergency department (ED) visits occurred in the United States. During that year, about 4% of children had two or more ED visits in the past 12 months, and 18% of adults had visited the ED in the past 12 months. This report presents characteristics of ED visits by age group, sex, race and ethnicity, insurance, and mentions of COVID-19, using data from the 2021 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS).
  
  Key findings Data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey
  
  • The overall emergency department (ED) visit rate was 43 visits per 100 people in 2021.
  
  • ED visit rates were highest for infants under age 1 year (103 visits per 100 infants) and adults aged 75 and over (66 per 100 people).
  
  • The ED visit rate for Black or African-American non-Hispanic people (81) was the highest among the selected racial and ethnic groups.
  
  • The ED visit rate for patients with private insurance was lowest compared with all other primary expected sources of payment, and the rate for patients with Medicaid was highest.
  
  • In 2021, a COVID-19 diagnosis was confirmed for 3.8% of all ED patient visits.
  
  Suggested citation: Cairns C, Ashman JJ, King JM. Emergency department visit rates by selected characteristics: United States, 2021. NCHS Data Brief, no 478. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2023. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15620/ cdc:131757.
  
  CS342162
  
  
• Series:
  NCHS Data Briefs
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Report ; Statistics
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• CIO:
  National Center for Health Statistics
• Topic:
  Health Statistics
• Location:
  North America
• Issue:
  478
• Collection(s):
  Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:6e1a7e210053e6a98793bc991b6f0b247410fd636d91f7f12c71197c4cc99541b3d82aecca95aa41748860cda1399da87e404b74ce8ab141480cb0d5cacb6e59
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/131757/cdc_131757_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 439.86 KB ]