258266 Emergency Department Eye Care in the United States, 2008-2009

Monday, October 29, 2012

Clarice Brown, MS , National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville, MD
Purpose: To describe emergency department (ED) eye care visits.

Methods: Data were analyzed from the 2008-2009 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), an annual national probability sample survey of visits to U.S. hospital EDs and outpatient departments. ED eye care visits were defined as any visit that had either a first-listed reason for visit or ICD-9-CM diagnosis code specific to the eye. Data were weighted to produce national estimates. Two years of data were combined to produce more reliable estimates.

Results: In 2008/09, 2.3 million annual visits were made to U.S. EDs for eye care, representing 1.8% of all visits. The ED eye care visit rate was 7.7 per 1,000 population; the visit rate for blacks (17.3) was more than twice as high as for whites (6.5) (p<0.05). The proportion of eye care visits that were injury-related was 46.6%. Medicaid and self-pay were payment sources for 24.8% and 14.7% of eye care visits, respectively. The leading reason for visit and diagnosis were abnormal eye sensations (27.7%) and acute conjunctivitis (26.1%), respectively. Foreign body removal was performed at 5.2% of eye care visits. The proportion of eye care visits that resulted in hospital admission or transfer was 3.4%.

Conclusions: Conjunctivitis which in most cases could be treated in a primary care setting was the most common diagnosis at ED eye care visits. NHAMCS data may be used to plan for changes in the delivery of ophthalmologic ED care expected when the health care reform law goes into effect.

Learning Areas:
Provision of health care to the public

Learning Objectives:
List the number of emergency department eye care visits that occur in the U.S. each year. List the most common diagnosis made at emergency department eye care visits in the U.S. List the 2 sources of payment that account for approximately one-half of emergency department eye care visits in the U.S.

Keywords: Emergency Department/Room, Vision Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have analyzed data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) for 15 years. My research interests include antibiotic prescribing patterns in ambulatory care and emergency department utilization.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3099.0: Health Promotion and Vision Loss