Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Emergency department and urgent care services

Emerging Strategies to Ensure Access to Health Care Services: Emergency Medical Center
Provides an overview of the emergency medical center (EMC) model, which would allow struggling hospitals to convert to EMC status and provide emergency and outpatient services, without having to provide inpatient acute care services. Also outlines rural-specific federal policy proposals that seek to create similar hospital designations, with the goal of improving access to and the delivery of care in underserved communities.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
view details
Ensuring Access with a Hospital's Conversion to a Freestanding Emergency Department
Outlines Ellijay, Georgia-based North Georgia Medical Center's transition from a traditional community hospital to a freestanding emergency department (ED). Shares administrative, legal, and logistical challenges that, once overcome, resulted in Piedmont Mountainside Hospital Emergency Services - a successful, community-focused, freestanding ED.
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association Rural Health Services
view details
Emerging Strategies to Ensure Access to Health Care Services: Urgent Care Centers
Outlines a strategy to improve access to and the delivery of healthcare services by creating urgent care centers. Offers federal policy solutions to promote the effective adoption of the urgent care center model.
Additional links: Is the Urgent Care Center the Right Strategy for your Community?
Date: 11/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: American Hospital Association
view details
Trends in Emergency Department Visits, 2006–2014
Presents information on emergency department (ED) visits and trends in the U.S. between 2006 and 2014 based on data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). Covers ED visit frequency by age, sex, metro/nonmetro location, primary payer type, region, diagnosis, and several other indicators.
Author(s): Brian J. Moore, Carol Stocks, Pamela L. Owens
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
view details
National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2014 Emergency Department Summary Tables
Provides data on ambulatory care emergency department hospital visits. Table 1 includes brief metro/non-metro overview information, and Table 15 has metro/non-metro injury visit data.
Date: 09/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: National Center for Health Statistics
view details
Wisconsin Drive Time to Emergency Care
Shows a map of Wisconsin with drive times to Critical Access Hospitals (CAHs), non-CAHs, and freestanding emergency rooms in 10, 20, and 30-minute increments.
Date: 09/2017
Type: Map/Mapping System
Sponsoring organization: Wisconsin Office of Rural Health
view details
Undertriage of Pediatric Major Trauma Patients in the United States
Features a study of trauma undertriage for children under 16. Draws data from the National Emergency Department Sample (NEDS). Looks at age, gender, primary payer, and rural status of patients, among other measures.
Author(s): Jin Peng, Krista Wheeler, Jonathan I. Groner, et al.
Citation: Clinical Pediatrics, 56(9), 845-853
Date: 08/2017
Type: Document
view details
Improving Access to High Quality Sepsis Care in a South Dakota Emergency Telemedicine Network
Research and policy brief exploring whether emergency department-based telemedicine networks using real-time access to sepsis experts can improve outcomes and decrease variation in care. Discusses a pilot program for Critical Access Hospitals in South Dakota-based Avera Health's 140-hospital network in 12 states. Includes statistics for patients with positive sepsis screens from September 2016 to March 2017.
Author(s): Nicholas M. Mohr, Brian Skow, Amy Wittrock, et al.
Date: 08/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Rural Telehealth Research Center
view details
Alaska Facts and Figures: 2016 Emergency Department Super-Utilizer Facts
Provides statistics on Alaskan residents who visited the emergency department most frequently in 2016 by primary payer type, age group, and public health region.
Date: 07/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Alaska Division of Public Health
view details
Patient Residence Characteristics of Opioid-Related Inpatient Stays and Emergency Department Visits Nationally and by State, 2014
Provides data on opioid-related hospital inpatient stays and emergency department (ED) visits from 2005 to 2014. Includes data by location of patient residence for metropolitan and rural areas. Identifies states where the highest rates of opioid-related inpatient stays and ED visits are in rural areas. Also provides data by community-level income.
Author(s): Audrey J. Weiss, Molly K. Bailey, Lauren O'Malley, et al.
Date: 07/2017
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
view details