Impact of Primary Care Utilization and Insurance on Emergency Department Visits

This study examines the correlation between primary care utilization and emergency department (ED) visits and the role insurance plays. This research was conducted by using secondary data from the 2021 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) and was thus limited to adult California patients.

Findings: Results from this research show a strong correlation between primary care utilization and insurance and ED use. Therefore, the first hypothesis is that an increase in primary care utilization reduces ED visits. The second hypothesis is that those individuals insured utilize more primary care for preventative care and, therefore, experience fewer ED visits. The null hypothesis in this study is that the independent variables are not associated with the dependent variable.