Table 1.
Characteristics of top 20 ED users.
| Patient no. | Total no. of visits | No. of EDs | Age | Homeless? | Triage levels* | No. of ICD-9 codes | Top five diagnoses† | Primary insurance | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High (1, 2) |
Moderate (3) | Low (4, 5) |
||||||||
| 1 | 185 | 2 | 55 | Yes | 29 | 112 | 9 | 341 | Lack of housing (59), pain in limb (32), alteration of consciousness (26), abdominal pain (23), nausea/vomiting (14) 45.1% of all codes |
Medicaid |
|
| ||||||||||
| 2 | 182 | 3 | 49 | Yes | 25 | 107 | 37 | 97 | HIV (18), pruritic disorder (9), cough/chest pain (9), skin rash (6), dizziness (4), dermatitis (4), asymptomatic HIV infection (4) 55.6% of all codes |
Medicare |
|
| ||||||||||
| 3 | 168 | 3 | 41 | Yes | 44 | 101 | 15 | 506 | Nondependent abuse of drugs (105), alteration of consciousness (98), alcohol withdrawal (92), hypertension (60), and unspecified alcohol dependence (51) 80.2% of all codes |
Medicaid |
|
| ||||||||||
| 4 | 148 | 3 | 43 | Yes | 41 | 73 | 7 | 246 | Lack of housing (28), back pain (25), HIV infection (21), pain/swelling in limb (21), nondependent abuse of drugs (15) 44.7% of all codes |
Medicaid |
|
| ||||||||||
| 5 | 132 | 3 | 56 | Yes | 25 | 88 | 13 | 367 | Pain/swelling in limb (33), shortness of breath/cough (31), lack of housing (30), back pain (28), HIV infection (21) 38.9% of all codes |
Medicare |
|
| ||||||||||
| 6 | 105 | 2 | 62 | No | 66 | 30 | 8 | 412 | Shortness of breath/chest pain (117), diabetes (59), hypertension (49), coronary atherosclerosis (40), alteration of consciousness (33) 72.3% of all codes |
Medicare |
|
| ||||||||||
| 7 | 100 | 2 | 55 | Yes | 22 | 35 | 24 | 209 | Alteration of consciousness (42), alcohol dependence (39), lack of housing (30), nondependent abuse of drugs (22), noncompliance with medical treatment presenting hazards to health (15) 70.8% of all codes |
Uninsured |
|
| ||||||||||
| 8 | 99 | 2 | 43 | Yes | 4 | 65 | 11 | 158 | Respiratory symptoms (28), headache (20), abdominal pain (15), nausea/vomiting (12), nondependent abuse of drugs (10) 53.8% of all codes |
Uninsured |
|
| ||||||||||
| 9 | 97 | 3 | 56 | Yes | 7 | 75 | 7 | 290 | Drug withdrawal (32), HIV infection (30), opioid dependence (23), nausea/vomiting (23), diabetes (22) 44.8% of all codes | Medicaid |
|
| ||||||||||
| 10 | 92 | 3 | 56 | Yes | 16 | 51 | 20 | 294 | Diabetes (60), respiratory symptoms (33), pain in limb (23), nausea/vomiting (15), asthma (12) 48.6% of all codes |
Uninsured |
|
| ||||||||||
| 11 | 87 | 2 | 56 | Yes | 17 | 45 | 13 | 239 | Lack of housing (40), myalgia/pain in limb (23), alcohol abuse (16), alcohol dependence (12), joint pain (11) 42.6% of all codes |
Uninsured |
|
| ||||||||||
| 12 | 87 | 3 | 53 | Yes | 9 | 60 | 11 | 240 | Asthma (33), respiratory abnormalities (21), pain in limb (21), depression (13), disorders of the joint (11) 41.2% of all codes | Uninsured |
|
| ||||||||||
| 13 | 82 | 3 | 43 | Yes | 22 | 41 | 13 | 310 | Nausea/vomiting (40), abdominal pain (38), HIV (31), alteration of consciousness (23), respiratory symptoms (23) 50% of all codes |
Medicaid |
|
| ||||||||||
| 14 | 82 | 3 | 42 | Yes | 8 | 66 | 7 | 263 | Hypertension (30), headache (23), respiratory symptoms (22), alterations of consciousness (19), myalgia/pain in limb (19) 42.9% of all codes |
Medicaid |
|
| ||||||||||
| 15 | 80 | 3 | 36 | Yes | 5 | 66 | 5 | 259 | Nausea/vomiting (41), abdominal pain (41), hypertension (28), bipolar disorder (25), chronic ulcer of skin (20) 59.8% of all codes |
Medicaid + Uninsured |
|
| ||||||||||
| 16 | 76 | 3 | 30 | No | 55 | 15 | 3 | 167 | Sickle cell disease (115), pain in limb (31), depression (10) 93.4% of all codes |
Medicaid |
|
| ||||||||||
| 17 | 70 | 1 | 59 | Yes | 15 | 48 | 5 | 236 | Hypertension (42), bronchitis (29), asthma (26), pain in limb (24), shortness of breath (24) 61.4% of all codes |
Uninsured |
|
| ||||||||||
| 18 | 70 | 3 | 40 | Yes | 16 | 26 | 10 | 105 | Nondependent alcohol abuse (20), depressive disorder (14), schizophrenia (11), other unspecified alcohol dependence (9), unspecified nonpsychotic mental disorder (8), joint pain in lower leg (8) 66.6% of all codes |
Medicaid |
|
| ||||||||||
| 19 | 70 | 3 | 68 | Yes | 19 | 20 | 30 | 324 | Chest pain (64), diabetes (41), back pain (23), syncope (22), hypertension (16) 51.2% of all codes |
Medicare |
|
| ||||||||||
| 20 | 67 | 2 | 23 | Yes | 16 | 29 | 14 | 152 | Lack of housing (31), acute upper respiratory infection (19), headache (17), acute nasopharyngitis (common cold) (16), acute pharyngitis (11) 61.8% of all codes |
Uninsured |
|
| ||||||||||
| Total | 2,079 | 1 : 1 2 : 6 3 : 13 |
Ave: 48.3 Mean: 51 |
18 of 20 | 461 (24.6%) | 1,153 (61.4%) | 262 (14%) |
5,215 | Medicaid: 8.5 Uninsured:: 7.5 Medicare: 4 |
|
*Triage totals do not match visit totals because of missing data (9.8% of table sample).
†Includes the number of instances this ICD-9 code was cited during the calendar year.