Annals of emergency medicine
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We describe the epidemiology of frequent users of emergency departments (EDs), using a statewide dataset derived from linked ED, observation stay, and inpatient hospital discharge databases. ⋯ Uninsured individuals are no more likely than publicly insured individuals to be ED frequent users and compose only 15% of them. Frequent users tend to be sicker than infrequent users, but most use the ED at high rates temporarily and visit the ED less frequently or not at all the following year.