Emergency Department Visits And Hospital Capacity In The US: Trends In The Medicare Population During The COVID-19 Pandemic

Health Affairs July 1, 2024
Peter B. Smulowitz, A. James O’Malley, J. Michael McWilliams, Lawrence Zaborski, Bruce E. Landon

Abstract

Although emergency department (ED) and hospital overcrowding were reported during the later parts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the true extent and potential causes of this overcrowding remain unclear. Using data on the traditional fee-for-service Medicare population, we examined patterns in ED and hospital use during the period 2019–22. We evaluated trends in ED visits, rates of admission from the ED, and thirty-day mortality, as well as measures suggestive of hospital capacity, including hospital Medicare census, length-of-stay, and discharge destination. We found that ED visits remained below baseline throughout the study period, with...

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