Characteristics of frequent emergency department users in British Columbia, Canada: a retrospective analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Frequent emergency department users disproportionately account for rising health care costs. We aimed to characterize frequent emergency department users in British Columbia, Canada.

Methods

We performed a retrospective analysis using health administrative databases. We included patients aged 18 years or more with at least 1 emergency department visit from 2012/13 to 2015/16, linked to hospital, physician billing, prescription and mortality data. We used annual emergency department visits made by the top 10% of patients to define frequent users (≥ 3 visits/year).

Results

Over the study period, 13.8%-15.3% of patients seen in emergency departments were frequent users. We identified 205 136 frequent users among 1 196 353 emergency department visitors. Frequen

SUBMITTER: Moe J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8034376 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan-Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature