Foundation White Paper on ER visits now available

Following an extensive effort to investigate North Texas Emergency Room (ER) usage, the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council Foundation (DFWHC Foundation) has announced the release of its new white paper “Emergency Room Visits in North Texas: A Comprehensive Overview and Frequent Flyer Analysis to Identify Disparities.”



Before examining area ER usage, information was extracted from the DFWHC Foundation’s data warehouse for “out-patients” visiting ERs in 2010-2012. Geographic mapping combined with the data was used to identify patients with the most ER visits, or frequent flyer patients.

The research is the first effort of its kind in North Texas, with detail on ER charges and disparities at the county, zip code and patient level.

Results revealed 25 percent of ER visits were made by Medicaid patients and 33 percent by the uninsured. Based on these numbers, North Texas ERs served 18 percent more patients as compared to the national target set by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dallas County had the highest number of uninsured ER visits with a total of 38 percent. Tarrant County had an almost equal number of insured and uninsured visits, with 32 percent and 31 percent respectively.

For a copy of the white paper, contact Sushma Sharma, PhD, at ssharma@dfwhcfoundation.org.