Between 2007 & 2016, There Were Increasing Emergency Department Visits For Mental Health Conditions In The U.S.

A recent study has found that emergency department utilization for mental health conditions—and especially substance use conditions—significantly increased between 2007 and 2016. Increasing use of emergency departments by patients with mental health conditions may indicate suboptimal delivery of effective or acceptable outpatient mental health care, particularly for substance use-related conditions.

About 8.4 million (8.3%) of 100.9 million emergency department visits nationwide were for psychiatric or substance use-related diagnoses. Over the 10-year study period, the proportion of emergency department visits for mental health diagnoses increased from 6.6% to 10.9%. Visits for . . .