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.
Niska
Richard
R
Division of Health Care Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD 20782, USA.
Bhuiya
Farida
F
Xu
Jianmin
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003441:Crowding; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D019458:Insurance Coverage; D008297:Male; D008484:Medicaid; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D008875:Middle Aged; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000145:classification; D055815:Young Adult