Southeast New Mexico Has Highest Rate of Emergency Department Visits in the State

Southeast New Mexico Has Highest Rate of Emergency Department Visits in the State

State Health Department releases annual emergency department admission report

A New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) report examining the most recent year of data available, finds the southeast part of the state has the highest rate of emergency room visits.

The Emergency Department Data Report 2017 summarizes emergency department (ED) visits from non-federal hospitals in state, looking at who goes to the emergency room, their age, what they have been seen for and where. A total of 812,506 emergency visits were evaluated.

“Recognizing how New Mexicans use the emergency departments helps us better understand access to health care and how hospitals are being used by patients statewide,” said Department of Health Secretary Kathy Kunkel.

The total rate of New Mexican residents seen at emergency departments was 3,901 per 10,000 people. Utilization of emergency departments varied among regions, with the highest rate of 4,903 ED visits per 10,000 residents in the Southeast Region, consisting of Quay, DeBaca, Curry, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Chaves, Eddy, and Lea counties.

The lowest rate is the Metro Region, which is Bernalillo, Sandoval, Torrance, and Valencia counties. The Metro Region had 3,478 ED visits per 10,000 residents. The reason for the differences is attributed in part to diseases of the respiratory system and injury, poisonings, and certain other medical issues being more common in the southeastern part of the state. 

Additional findings include:

• Persons ages 65 and over had the highest overall rate of ED visits, with a rate of 4,297 per 10,000 population.
• Medicaid represents the largest payer, covering 42 percent of ED visits. This is followed by Medicare with 22 percent and private insurance with 21 percent.
• Of the 34 reporting facilities, Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque had the highest number of Emergency Department (ED) visits. Guadalupe County Hospital had the lowest.

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El Sureste de Nuevo México con el Índice Más Alto de Visitas al Departamento de Emergencias en el Estado