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National Healthcare Disparities Report - LDI Health Economist

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Timeliness<br />

Chapter 4<br />

n Not all patients seeking care in an ED need urgent care, and use of EDs for nonurgent care could<br />

lead to longer wait times.<br />

The <strong>National</strong> Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey defines five levels of urgency of ED visits:<br />

n Immediate, requiring immediate care.<br />

n Emergent, requiring care in less than 15 minutes.<br />

n Urgent, requiring care within 1 hour.<br />

n Semiurgent, requiring care within 2 hours.<br />

n Nonurgent, not requiring care within 2 hours.<br />

Figure 4.3. Emergency department visits in which patient had to wait an hour or more by urgency, race,<br />

and insurance status, 2008-2009<br />

40<br />

White<br />

Black<br />

40<br />

Private<br />

Public<br />

Uninsured<br />

30<br />

30<br />

Percent<br />

20<br />

Percent<br />

20<br />

10<br />

10<br />

0<br />

Immediate/<br />

Emergent<br />

Urgent<br />

0<br />

Immediate/Emergent<br />

Urgent<br />

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, <strong>National</strong> Center for <strong>Health</strong> Statistics, <strong>National</strong> Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care<br />

Survey (NHAMCS), 2008-2009.<br />

Denominator (Immediate or Emergent): Visits to U.S. emergency departments with triage assessments of immediate or emergent.<br />

Denominator (Urgent): Visits to U.S. emergency departments with triage assessments of urgent.<br />

Note: For this measure, lower rates are better. Race data were missing for 13.3% of total visits included in this chart. Missing race<br />

data were imputed. Standard errors were inflated as described at 2007 NHAMCS Microdata File Documentation,<br />

ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/<strong>Health</strong>_Statistics/NCHS/Dataset_Documentation/NHAMCS/. Insurance status shown for patients under age 65<br />

and classified based on all expected payment sources. Public insurance includes Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children’s <strong>Health</strong><br />

Insurance Program. Uninsured is defined as having “only self-pay” or “no charge/charity” as payment sources.<br />

n In 2008-2009, among ED visits for immediate/emergent conditions, there was no statistically<br />

significant difference between Whites and Blacks in the percentage who had to wait an hour or<br />

more. There were also no statistically significant differences between uninsured patients and patients<br />

with private insurance (Figure 4.3).<br />

158 <strong>National</strong> <strong><strong>Health</strong>care</strong> <strong>Disparities</strong> <strong>Report</strong>, 2011

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