Managed care (Langhorne, Pa.)
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Studies worldwide in emergency departments (ED) find that a substantial proportion of patients seek care for non-urgent conditions. Managed care programs may help address this overuse of ED facilities, but non-urgent ED care is not easily identified outside of ED settings. This article employed an algorithm using insurance data to identify and characterize patients having low urgency ED visits. Non-urgentis the term used in the ED literature for ED visits that might have been managed outside an ED setting such as in a physician office. Low urgency ED visits could include visits that require an ED setting but for less severe conditions than high urgency ED visits. ⋯ The results identify several areas such as youth, island of residence, and past history of low urgency ED visits that might become the focus of managed care programs.