Who is in Your Emergency Department?

ED "frequent fliers" tend to be white, insured, and sicker, data indicate.
The Los Angeles Times (3/19, Healy) "Booster Shots" blog reported that, according to a meta-analysis of 25 studies published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, the "regular visitors to the emergency department are predominantly white, have insurance, and tend to be sicker than most patients who visit the" ED "less often." Yet, "African Americans and women are disproportionately represented in the group with heaviest use of the ED, and patients who are insured by Medicare or Medicaid represent 60% of the ED's frequent fliers." Still, the authors contend, "efforts, including a recent one in California, to restrict use of the ED by the uninsured and those who are not urgently sick will save little," but "bigger savings...could come from diverting patients with chronic illnesses from frequent ED use."