High-intensity emergency department visits increased in California, 2002-09.

ABSTRACT: Increasing use of the emergency department (ED) is well documented, but little is known about the type and severity of ED visits or their distribution across safety-net and non-safety-net hospitals. We examined the rates of high-intensity ED visits--characterized by their use of advanced imaging, consultations with specialists, the evaluation of multiple systems, and highly complex medical decision making--by patients with a severe, potentially life-threatening illness in California from 2002 through 2009. Total annual ED visits increased by 25 percent, from 9.0 million to 11.3 million, but high-intensity ED visits nearly doubled, increasing 87 percent from 778,000 to 1.5 million per year. The percentage of ED visits with high-intensity care increased from 9 percent to 13 percent (a relati

SUBMITTER: Herring AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4109394 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature