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To assess whether the rate of 72-hour unscheduled return visits to the emergency department (ED) — a frequently cited quality measure — truly indicates quality or safety of patient care, these authors analyzed data from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey from 1998 to 2006. Of 218,179 ED visits during the study period, 3.2% were 72-hour return visits. The authors compared resource use and admission rates between patients who had visited an ED within the previous 72 hours (returning patients) and those who had not.
Admission rates were identical (13%) for the two patient groups. Total resource use during the visit was significantly less for returning patients than for patients who had not visited an ED within the previous 72 …