This is a measure of ambulatory care emergency department (ED) visits. Ambulatory care is medical care provided on an out-patient basis, meaning there isn't the need for a prolonged stay, or admission, to the medical facility. For this measure, we count each visit to an ED that does not result in an inpatient encounter once, regardless of the intensity or duration of the visit. We count multiple visits to the ED on the same date of service as one visit. This measure does not include mental health or chemical dependency services.
A lower rate is generally better for this measure as an indication that the EDs are being used appropriately for emergency care. The drop in our rate in 2021 (for measurement year 2020) is likely attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This measure can be broken down by many different age groups, but the rate reported here is the rate for all age groups combined.
The MCE Quality Committee decided that in order to better demonstrate the breadth of Medicaid services covered under the Global Committment waiver, DVHA would break out performance measure data into smaller sub-populations when possible. In 2017, the calendar year 2016 AMB-ED performance measure was the first to be broken out.
Last updated: September 2021