Geography of ED Use and Population Health

The purpose of this study is to analyze the geographic patterns of emergency department utilization. This study will look at the relationship that geographic proximity and local population factors have on patient use of emergency departments. Geographic proximity of alternative hospitals and elicit other patient and hospital specific factors, such as demographic, insurance type, diagnosis, and socioeconomic factors that lead patients to choose specific hospitals for emergency care or generally lead to patients accessing emergency care will be compared. Patterns of emergency department utilization by patients will be identified in specific geographies such as Census tracts to determine clusters of high and low emergency department use. We also analyze the patterns of emergency care use based on specific disease conditions.Investigators will analyze the rate of emergency department use for patients with diabetes to determine population prevalence of diseases using emergency department data. Studying the pattern of use by specific geographies or disease conditions will also allow us to understand how emergency department use varies among populations by geographies and the socioeconomic and health care factors local to those regions.