Underutilization of the Emergency Department During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in the United States (US) prompted widespread containment measures such as shelter-in-place (SIP) orders. The goal of our study was to determine whether there was a significant change in overall volume and proportion of emergency department (ED) encounters since SIP measures began.

Methods

This was a retrospective, observational, cross-sectional study using billing data from January 1, 2017-April 20, 2020. We received data from 141 EDs across 16 states, encompassing a convenience sample of 26,223,438 ED encounters. We used a generalized least squares regression approach to ascertain changes for overall ED encounters, hospital admissions, and New York University ED visit algorithm categories.

Results

ED encoun

SUBMITTER: Lucero AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7673895 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature