Trends in pediatric emergency department use after the Affordable Care Act

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: After the Affordable Care Act (ACA) took full effect in 2014, 900 000 children obtained health insurance. Researchers have found variable effects of insurance on adult emergency department (ED) use, but the effect in pediatric patients is unknown. We examined ED visit rates before and after 2014 among children. METHODS: We used estimates of ED visit counts from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample and population estimates from the American Community Survey in a cross-sectional, retrospective study of ED visit rates among children. We compared the trend in ED visit rates before (2009–2013) and after (2014–2016) the ACA took full effect, controlling for age, sex, and census region. RESULTS: The mean ED use rate was 35.2 visits per 100 children from 2009 to 2013 and 36.6 from 2014 to 2016. ED visit rates increased by 1.1% per year pre-2014 and 9.8% from 2014 to 2016 (incidence rate ratio 1.09, 95% confidence interval 1.03–1.15, P = .005). Results did not vary significantly when insurance was included as a control variable. CONCLUSIONS: There was no immediate change in pediatric ED visit rates the year after the ACA took full effect in 2014, but the rate of change from 2014 to 2016 was significantly higher than previous rate trends. In our model, increased pediatric insurance coverage neither drove nor counteracted the observed trends.