Emergency department (ED) visits have been on an upward trend in the United States. A retrospective analysis of visit data from the National Center for Health Statistics published in Cureus found a consistent increase in overall ED visits among adults within the previous 12 months from 1999 to 2019. The prevalence of ED visits ranged from 17.2% +/- 0.3% in 1999 to 21.7% +/- 0.3% in 2019 with slightly higher visit rates among females than males. Adults aged 75 years and above also had higher visit rates compared to other age groups, ranging from a prevalence of 24.4% +/- 0.9% to 32.5% +/- 1.1%. Across the study’s time frame, the lowest ED visit prevalence occurred in 2015, and the highest occurred in 2019.
Growth market: A total of 140 million ED visits were reported in the United States in 2021, with an overall rate of 43 visits per 100 people. In some markets, urgent care operators may have an opportunity to capture some of the increasing volume.