Low acuity paediatric emergency visits under single-payer universal health insurance in Taiwan, 2000-2015: a population-based repeated cross-sectional design.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Emergency services utilisation is a critical policy concern. The paediatric population is the main user of emergency department (ED) services, and the main contributor to low acuity (LA) ED visits. We aimed to describe the trends of ED and LA ED visits under a comprehensive, universal health insurance programme in Taiwan, and to explore factors associating with potentially unnecessary ED utilisation.

Design and setting

We used a population-based, repeated cross-sectional design to analyse the full year of 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 National Health Insurance claims data individually for individuals aged 18 years and under.

Participants

We identified 5 538 197, 4 818 213, 4 401 677 and 3 841 174 children in 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015, respectively.

Primary a

SUBMITTER: Huang IA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7802710 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature