Trends in United States emergency department visits and associated charges from 2010 to 2016

Demographic shifts and care delivery system evolution affect the number of Emergency Department (ED) visits and associated costs. Recent aggregate trends in ED visit rates and charges between 2010 and 2016 have not been evaluated. Data from the National Emergency Department Sample, comprising approximately 30 million annual patient visits, were used to estimate the ED visit rate and charges per visit from 2010 to 2016. ED visits were grouped into 144 mutually exclusive clinical categories. Visit rates, compound annual growth rates (CAGRs), and per visit charges were estimated. From 2010 to 2016, the number of ED visits increased from 128.97 million to 144.82 million; the cumulative growth was 12.29% and the CAGR was 1.95%, while the population grew at a CAGR of 0.73%. Expressed as a population rate, ED visits per 1000 persons increased from 416.92 in 2010 to 448.19 in 2016 (p value