QuickStats: Percentage of Emergency Department Visits* with Medicaid as the Primary Expected Source of Payment Among Persons Aged <65 Years, by Race and Ethnicity† — National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, United States, 2011–2021
Weekly / August 4, 2023 / 72(31);853
Abbreviation: ED = emergency department.
* Based on a sample of visits to EDs in noninstitutional general and short-stay hospitals, excluding federal, military, and Veterans Administration hospitals, located in 50 states and the District of Columbia.
† Visits by non-Hispanic persons of other races are not displayed but are included in overall percentages. Race groups are non-Hispanic. Data for race and ethnicity were imputed to account for missing data. Missing data on race and ethnicity among persons aged <65 years ranged from 15.3% to 22.1% and 10.4% to 31.0%, respectively, depending on the year. Expected source of payment refers to the sources of payment listed in the medical record as those sources expected to pay for the sampled visit at the time of data collection. Primary expected source of payment was based on a hierarchical recoding of multiple payment sources. https://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Dataset_Documentation/NHAMCS/doc21-ed-508.pdf
During 2011–2021, the percentage of ED visits among persons aged <65 years with Medicaid as the primary expected source of payment increased from 34.0% to 45.3%. This pattern was consistent irrespective of race and Hispanic or Latino (Hispanic) origin. ED visits among Hispanic persons increased the most, from 46.3% in 2011 to 62.7% in 2021. The percentage of ED visits among persons with Medicaid as their primary expected source of payment increased from 40.9% in 2011 to 53.4% in 2021 among Black or African American (Black) persons, and from 27.8% to 35.5% among White persons. During the study period, the percentages of ED visits by Black and Hispanic persons with Medicaid as the primary expected source of payment were higher than the percentages of visits by White persons.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2011–2021. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ahcd/ index.htm
Reported by: Loredana Santo, MD, lsanto@cdc.gov; Susan M. Schappert, MA; Jill J. Ashman, PhD.
Suggested citation for this article: QuickStats: Percentage of Emergency Department Visits with Medicaid as the Primary Expected Source of Payment Among Persons Aged <65 Years, by Race and Ethnicity — National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, United States, 2011–2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2023;72:853. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7231a6.
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