Table 1.
Characteristics of Emergency Department (ED) Admissions Stratified by ED Revisit Status
| Revisit to EDa |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Hospital Admission Without ED Revisit (n = 1609 145)a | ED Return Admission (n = 86 012)b | Readmission (n = 76 151)c | |
| Patient Characteristics | |||
| Age, mean (SD), y | 64.0 (19.0) | 54.9 (20.2) | 66.4 (18.4) |
| Female sex, % | 52.7 | 53.3 | 50.0 |
| Race, % | |||
| White | 62.3 | 59.0 | 62.2 |
| Black | 16.3 | 18.6 | 17.0 |
| Hispanic | 15.0 | 16.1 | 14.7 |
| Asian/Pacific Islander | 1.5 | 1.1 | 1.3 |
| Native American | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 |
| Otherd | 4.8 | 4.9 | 4.7 |
| ≥2 Comorbidities, % | 71.1 | 62.3 | 81.3 |
| Primary payer, % | |||
| Medicare | 57.6 | 39.4 | 65.8 |
| Medicaid | 13.3 | 21.3 | 14.7 |
| Private | 18.9 | 12.8 | 5.2 |
| Uninsured | 7.7 | 12.8 | 5.2 |
| Othere | 2.5 | 3.2 | 2.1 |
| High use of ED, %f | 12.6 | 31.3 | 34.8 |
|
| |||
| Visit Characteristics | |||
| Weekend visit, % | 25.3 | 25.3 | 25.9 |
| Same diagnosis on revisit, %g | NA | 24.2 | 25.9 |
| Died in hospital, % | 2.47 | 1.35 | 4.59 |
| Length of stay, d | |||
| Median (25th-75th percentile) | 3 (2–6) | 3 (2–6) | 4 (2–8) |
| Mean (SD) | 5.04 (7.00) | 4.96 (6.55) | 6.43 (7.63) |
| Intensive care unit admission, % | 29.1 | 21.2 | 33.5 |
| Total cost, $ | |||
| Median (25th-75th percentile) | 7102 (4437–12 304) | 6436 (3982–10 891) | 7824 (4650–26 041) |
| Mean (SD) | 11143 (15 841) | 9823 (13911) | 12 767 (17 214) |
Abbreviation: NA. not applicable.
The revisit period used for this Table was within 7 days.
Defined as patients who were discharged from the ED at the index visit and were hospitalized during the return visit to the ED.
Defined as patients who were discharged from the hospital, made another visit to the ED, and were rehospitalized.
Self-identified as race other than one of the categories available or was unknown.
Auto insurance claims for motor vehicle collisions, labor and industries claims, TRICARE.
Defined as a person with 5 or more visits during a calendar year.
Determined by comparing Clinical Classification Software (CCS) codes for the primary diagnosis on each index ED visit and subsequent ED revisit. The CCS is used by the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project and groups related International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes into meaningful categories (eg, all ICD-9 codes for congestive heart failure into a single category).