Patient Characteristics by County and Facility

In 2023, 79% of all patients seen in a general acute care hospital setting in California were treated in the Emergency Department (ED) and 14% of the patients seen in the ED were admitted to the inpatient setting.

Introduction#

The 2023 Patient Characteristics by County and Facility visualization presents a calendar year overview of patients’ demographic and other characteristics in general acute care hospital settings in California.

Both a single-year view (2023) and a multi-year perspective (2017-2023) are available, with view at the statewide level, by county or counties, or compare up to two facilities. The data can be filtered by encounter setting: Ambulatory Surgery (AS), Emergency Department (ED), Inpatient not admitted from the ED (Inpatient not from ED) and Inpatient admitted from the ED (Inpatient from ED). 

Additional reported data categories include Race/Ethnicity, Assigned Sex at Birth, Age Group, and Expected Payer.

Key Findings#

• 79% of all patients being seen in general acute care hospital settings in California were treated in the ED and 14% of the patients seen in the ED were admitted to the inpatient setting.
• Hispanic patients are the largest racial/ethnic group with an ED visit (42%), but only constitute 29% of Ambulatory Surgery encounters.
• Patients age 65 and over comprise 49% of patients who are admitted to the hospital as the result of an ED visit, but only 19% of patients who visit the ED without being admitted.
• Medi-Cal is the expected payer for 44% of ED visits that do not result in an inpatient stay. Private insurance is the expected payer for 40% of inpatient stays.

Visualization#

Note: When selecting a different county, please select a new facility from the facility filter’s drop-down list.

How HCAI Created This Product#

The Patient Characteristics by County and Facility report was created using California’s Inpatient, Emergency Department and Ambulatory Surgery data for the years 2017 – 2023. To protect patient personal information, the California Health and Human Services Agency has adopted a policy of statistically masking or de-identifying sensitive data (CalHHS Data De-identification Guidelines). This product masks small numbers by including any counts under 11 in the “Other/Unknown” category. This is done to protect patients’ health information while providing maximum amount of allowable information to the user. The “Other/Unknown” category also contains invalid and missing values.

Race/Ethnicity: The “Other/Unknown” category includes Other Race, Unknown, invalid, missing values and cells where the values were less than 10. Individuals whose ethnicity is Hispanic or Latino were assigned to the “Hispanic” category regardless of race. Individuals identified as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander were assigned to the “Asian” category. Individuals whose ethnicity is not Hispanic or Latino and who were associated with more than one race were assigned to the “Non-Hispanic Multiracial” category.

Glossary#

Expected Payer: The payer type that was expected to pay the greatest share of the patient’s bill at the time of discharge, not the payer type that actually paid. 

Payer Groupings	Inpatient Discharges	Emergency Department Visits
Medicare: A federal health insurance program funded by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) under the Social Security Amendments of 1965 that provides healthcare benefits to those aged 65 years and over and to disabled beneficiaries of any age. Includes Medicare Advantage and Medicare Fee-for-Service (Traditional Medicare).	Medicare	Medicare Part A, Medicare Part B, and Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) Medicare Risk
Medi-Cal: A public health insurance program that provides free or low-cost medical services and healthcare benefits to low-income individuals, financed from state and federal funds; California’s version of Medicaid. Includes Medi-Cal Managed Care and Medi-Cal Fee-for-Service.	Medi-Cal	Medicaid (Medi-Cal)
Private Health Insurance: Coverage by private, non-profit or commercial health plans or through organizations. Includes individual coverage purchased through Covered California, and organized charity payers (e.g., March of Dimes, Shriners).	Private Coverage	Preferred Provider Organization (PPO), Point of Service (POS), Exclusive Provider Organization (EPO), Blue Cross / Blue Shield, Commercial Insurance Company, and Health Maintenance Organization
Other Government: Public insurance programs other than Medicare or Medi-Cal, including federal, state, county and veteran-specific programs.	County Indigent, Other Government	CHAMPUS (TRICARE), Other Federal Program, Title V, Veterans Affairs Plan, and Other Non-Federal Programs
Self-Pay or Uninsured: Coverage where the greatest share of the patient’s bill is not expected to be paid by any other form of insurance or health plan. Includes uninsured patients, as well as instances when insurance does not cover the treatment, or the patient would like to keep the medical procedure private.	Other Indigent, Self-Pay	Self-Pay
All Other Payers: Includes payers not categorized elsewhere: Workers’ Compensation, Automobile Medical, disability insurance, third-party payment not included in any other category or stays for which no payment will be required by the facility (e.g. courtesy patients).	Workers’ Compensation, Other Payer	Automobile Medical, Disability, Workers’ Compensation Health Claim, Other

Additional Information#

Topic: Healthcare Utilization
Source Link: Healthcare Utilization – Patient Level Administrative Data
Citation: HCAI – Patient Discharge Data, Emergency Department Data, Ambulatory Surgery Data, Hospital Inpatient – Characteristics by Facility (Pivot Profile), 2017-2023
Temporal Coverage: 2017-2023
Spatial/Geographic Coverage: Statewide, County
Frequency: Annually