Trends in Emergency Department Use by Rural and Urban Populations in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Patterns in emergency department (ED) use by rural populations may be an important indicator of the health care needs of individuals in the rural United States and may critically affect rural hospital finances.

Objective

To describe urban and rural differences in ED use over a 12-year period by demographic characteristics, payers, and characteristics of care, including trends in ambulatory care-sensitive conditions and ED safety-net status.

Design, setting, and participants

This cross-sectional study of ED visit data from the nationally representative National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey examined ED visit rates from January 2005 to December 2016. Visits were divided by urban and rural classification and stratified by age, sex, race/ethnicity, an

SUBMITTER: Greenwood-Ericksen MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6481434 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature