1.4 Million People Experiencing Homelessness Visited the ER Per Year from 2016-2021

Over 1.4 million people experiencing homelessness visited the emergency department annually between 2016-2021, according to a new report published in the National Health Statistics Reports by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Those the study identified as male made 981,000 visits; women made 460,000. 28.8% of people experiencing homelessness visited the emergency department due to mental, behavioral and neurodevelopmental disorders. Only 3.6% of visits by those not experiencing homelessness were for mental, behavioral or neurodevelopmental disorders. Intentional substance misuse, intentional alcohol misuse and depression were the most frequently documented chronic conditions at emergency visits by people experiencing homelessness and were more common than among visits by people not experiencing homelessness. The study also noted that visits were more frequent among people younger than 18 experiencing homelessness versus those who are not experiencing homelessness.

According to the report, “these data provide further insight on ED use by people experiencing homelessness.”