WASHINGTON — More than a quarter (28%) of all U.S. acute care visits are made to the emergency department, while slightly less than half (42%) take place in primary care physicians' offices.
Another 20% of acute care visits are made to subspecialist offices, lead study author Dr. Stephen R. Pitts said at the briefing.
It appears that the more severe a complaint, the more likely a patient will seek care in the ED, said Dr. Pitts of the department of medicine at Emory University, Atlanta, noting that, “too often, patients can't get the care they need, when they need it, from their family doctor.”
Two-thirds of acute care ED occurred on weekends or on weekdays after office hours, according to the study, which appears in the journal's September issue.
The authors based their study on data from the three federal surveys of ambulatory medical care in the outpatient, ED, and physician office setting.
Presenting complaints including stomach and abdominal pain, chest pain, and fever dominated the list of what brought patients to the ED. Those presenting to a primary care physician for acute care most frequently complained of cough, throat symptoms, rash, and earache.
Overall, emergency physicians took care of 11% of all ambulatory care visits, yet make up only 4% of the physician workforce, the authors said.
Disclosures: One of Dr. Pitts' coauthors disclosed that she received a training grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; others reported no conflicts.