Child ER Utilization Rising. Why & What’s To Be Done?

Two recent stories caught my eye—one national, and the other out of Connecticut—that document a rise in emergency room (ER) utilization attributed to behavioral health issues in children.

At the national level, recent findings presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics National Conference & Exhibition showed that pediatric emergency department (PED) visits for mental health problems increased by 55.8% between 2012 and 2016 (from 50.4 PED visits per 100,000 children in 2012 to 78.5 PED per 100,000 in 2016), and that PED visits for mental health problems were twice as high for minority . . .