ER Visits Continue to Climb

By Lydell C. Bridgeford
Employee Benefits News
August 12, 2008

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports Americans made an estimated 1.1 billion visits to physician offices and hospital outpatient and emergency departments in 2006, an average of four visits per person per year.

The number reflects a 26% increase from 1996 to 2006 and is faster than the 11% growth of the U.S. population, the CDC reports in a study on health care statistics.

The jump in visits can be attributed to the aging of the population, given older people tend to have higher ER visit rates, compared to younger people, researchers explain.

Other key finds include:

▪ The emergency department served as the route of admission to hospital inpatient services for roughly 50% of non-obstetric hospital patients in 2006, up from 36% in 1996.

▪ Most emergency department visits occurred after business hours (defined as 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays), when 63% of adults and 73% of children younger than age 15 arrived.

▪ The overall average waiting time to see a physician in the emergency department was nearly 56 minutes.

▪ Between 1996 and 2006, the percentage of visits to hospital outpatient departments made by adults 18 years and over with chronic diabetes increased by 43%, and visits by patients with chronic high blood pressure increased by 51%.