Studies have shown that up to 71 percent of Emergency Department visits are not medically necessary, and could have been cared for safely at an Urgent Care or at a doctor’s office.
Each year, there are 140 million Emergency Department visits a year in the United States.
Eleven percent of patients who are seen in the Emergency Department are admitted to the hospital.
Patients who don’t take their medications as prescribed have a 17% increase in Emergency Department use and 10% increased hospital admission rate.
The average cost of an Emergency Department visit is about $1200.
If 10% of Emergency Department visits were seen instead at an Urgent Care or doctor’s office care, it would reduce health care spending by $168,000,000.
Healthfacts.blog 