Photo Credit: Vidu Gunaratna

From 2016 to 2021, people experiencing homelessness made an estimated 1.4 million ED visits per year, according to a study published in the National Health Statistics Reports. The study authors described ED visits by homeless status and sex using data from the 2016 to 2021 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. The researchers estimated that a total of 981,000 and 460,000 ED visits were made annually by men and women experiencing homelessness from 2016 to 2021. The researchers also noted significant differences by sex for many ED visit characteristics, including arrival by ambulance, diagnoses, and chronic conditions. There were also significant differences in ED visits by men and women experiencing homelessness versus those not experiencing homelessness based on age, geographic region, expected source of payment, primary diagnosis, chronic conditions, and other characteristics.