Avoidable Emergency Department Costs

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Emergency Department (ED) visits are amongst the most costly components of health care delivery in Georgia. Many ED visits are avoidable, however, either through use of lower acuity care settings or prevention through primary care. Using Georgia APCD data and a well-established ED avoidable costs methodology, we estimated that in 2024 40% of ED visits in Georgia may have been avoidable. This equates to 2.3 million avoidable ED visits, and $716 million in avoidable ED costs in 2024. In comparison, the estimates for 2022 were 1.3 million avoidable ED visits, and $307 million in avoidable ED costs. See the infographics below for more information.

View the 2024 Infographic

Georgia APCD Avoidable ED Costs (2024) Infographic (PDF, 654.93 KB)

Infographic exploring costs from avoidable emergency department visits in 2024.

View the 2022 Infographic

Georgia APCD Avoidable ED Costs (2022) Infographic (PDF, 623.29 KB)

Infographic exploring costs from avoidable emergency department visits in 2022.

Explore the Data

Avoidable Emergency Department (ED) Visits - Public Use File (XLS, 309.36 KB)

This file provides data on different metrics related to avoidable emergency department (ED) visits, repeat visits, and cost in counties across Georgia in 2018-2024.