Utilization of emergency medical transports and hospital admissions among persons with behavioral health conditions.
OBJECTIVE
Emergency medical services transport and emergency department misuse among persons with behavioral health conditions is a concern. Administrative data were used to examine medical transports and hospital admissions among persons with behavioral health conditions.


METHODS
Data on 70,126 medical transports to emergency departments in three southeastern counties were analyzed.


RESULTS
Compared with general medical transports, fewer behavioral health transports resulted in a hospital admission. Among behavioral health transports, persons with schizophrenia were 2.62 times more likely than those with substance use disorders to be admitted, and persons with mood disorders were 4.36 times more likely than those with substance use disorders to be admitted. Also, among behavioral health transports, rural transports were less likely than more urban transports to result in a hospital admission.


CONCLUSIONS
More training of emergency medical services personnel and more behavioral health crisis resources, especially targeting rural areas and substance use disorders, are needed.
Cuddeback
Gary
G
School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
Patterson
P Daniel
PD
Moore
Charity Galena
CG
Brice
Jane H
JH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004637:Emergency Services, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D014187:Transportation of Patients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D019564:Unnecessary Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult