National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2007 Emergency Department Summary

OBJECTIVE: This report presents data on U.S. emergency department (ED) visits in 2007, with statistics on hospital, patient, and visit characteristics. METHODS: Data are from the 2007 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which uses a national probability sample of visits to emergency departments of nonfederal general and short-stay hospitals in the United States. Sample data were weighted to produce annual national estimates. RESULTS: In 2007, there were about 117 million ED visits in the United States. About 25 percent of visits were covered by Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). About one-fifth of ED visits by children younger than 15 years of age were to pediatric EDs. There were 121 ED visits for asthma per 10,000 children under 5 years of age. The leading injury-related cause of ED visits was unintentional falls. Two percent of visits resulted in admission to an observation unit. Electronic medical records were used in 62 percent of EDs.