Estimates of Emergency Department Visits in the United States, 2016-2022

The National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), collects annual data on visits to emergency departments to describe patterns of utilization and provision of ambulatory care delivery in the United States. Data are collected from nonfederal, general, and short-stay hospitals from all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and are used to develop nationally representative estimates.

This visualization depicts both counts and rates of emergency department visits from 2016-2022 for the 10 leading primary diagnoses and reasons for visit, stratified by selected patient and hospital characteristics. Rankings for the 10 leading categories were identified using weighted data from 2022 and were then assessed in prior years; however, rankings were relatively consistent over the evaluated years. See tables in the Definitions section below the visualization for changes in leading primary diagnoses and reasons for visit from 2016-2022. Estimates in this visualization highlight and expand on information provided in the annual NHAMCS web tables, which can be used to assess how these categories and rankings changed over the evaluated years.

Use the tabs at the bottom of the visualization to select between “Primary Diagnosis” and “Reason for Visit”.  Use the drop-down menus at the top of the visualization to select the estimate type, the estimate category, and the group breakdown of interest.

Definitions

Feedback

Please send comments or questions to ambcare@cdc.gov.

Data Source

National Center for Health Statistics, National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2016-2022

Suggested Citation

National Center for Health Statistics. Emergency Department Visits in the United States, 2016-2022. Generated interactively: from https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/dhcs/ed-visits/index.htm