Study aims to use existing syndromic surveillance data to describe demographic and utilization characteristics among chronic high frequency emergency department (ED) users in order to better understand the health complaints affecting this population. A retrospective study was conducted from 44 acute care hospital EDs between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2013. Analyses were conducted at the patient level based on medical record number and at the visit level based on chief complaint to characterize health complaints. This assessment determined a portion of visits by high frequency ED users could be directed to other health care services for appropriate treatment

erin.austin@vdh.virginia.gov