Transitions in health care settings for frequent and infrequent users of emergency departments: a population-based retrospective cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Efforts to reduce emergency department (ED) volumes often target frequent users. We examined transitions in care across ED, hospital, and community settings, and in-hospital death, for high system users (HSUs) compared to controls.

Methods

Population-based databases provided ED visits and hospitalizations in Alberta and Ontario, Canada. The retrospective cohort included the top 10% of all the ED users during 2015/2016 (termed HSUs) and a random sample of controls (4 per each HSU) from the bottom 90% per province. Rates of transitions among ED, hospitalization, community settings, and in-hospital mortality were adjusted for sociodemographic and ED variables in a multistate statistical model.

Results

There were 2,684,924 patients and 579,230 (21.6%) were HSUs

SUBMITTER: Rosychuk RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10644485 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature