Forty percent of emergency department visits in Indiana were by patients who had visited more than one ED in a three-year period — a finding from Indiana University School of Medicine that challenges the idea that patients stick to one ED for care.
Researchers found a high degree of overlap, with nearly all EDs in Indiana sharing patients with “nearly every other ED.” Such a high scale of patient-sharing had not yet been recognized until this study.
Researchers were not surprised by the large volume of ED visits in the state — roughly 2.8 million patients generated 7.4 million visits over three years. What did take them by surprise, though, was the wide range of visits per patient. Some patients had one visit, while at least one had 385 trips to the ED over three years.
The study authors say the findings could be reflective of ED trends in other states since “there is nothing particularly unique” about ED care in Indiana.
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