Exploring the Impact of Mental Health on Emergency Department Utilization

August 2025 – The emergency department (ED) – where immediate medical care is available for urgent needs on a 24/7 basis – is a critical element of the U.S. healthcare system. Staffed with highly skilled personnel and equipped with advanced diagnostic equipment, the emergency department typically uses more resources than other provider types. Already-high ED costs are further increased when patients access ED services for non-emergency needs that could reasonably be handled in a different care setting such as a primary care office or urgent care clinic.

In our latest issue brief, Onpoint principal health data analyst Katie McGraves-Lloyd, MS, draws on the underlying data from our Multi-State Behavioral Health Initiative to analyze how mental health conditions impact ED utilization across states and payer types. Her analysis includes a focus on “frequent flyers” – individuals who make up a relatively small percentage of members but account for a disproportionate number of ED visits, many of them for non-emergency issues.

Understanding how mental health impacts this small but important group – as well as the patient population more broadly – is critical to enhancing care coordination, eliminating unnecessary costs, and improving outcomes. Read the full issue brief here…

Note: This issue brief is part of Onpoint’s 2025 Multi-State Behavioral Health Initiative, an exciting collaboration with five of our state APCD clients – Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, Vermont, and Washington – to leverage their collective data and explore the relationships between behavioral health, other medical conditions, and social drivers of health. Read more and explore the companion dashboards at our Collective Impact page.