The Commonwealth Fund defines avoidable emergency department visits as “those that, based on diagnoses recorded during the visit and the health care service the patient received, were considered to be either nonemergent (care was not needed within 12 hours), or emergent (care needed within 12 hours) but that could have been treated safely and effectively in a primary care setting. This definition excludes any ED visit that resulted in an admission, as well as ED visits where the level of care provided in the ED was clinically indicated.” In 2015, VT ranked 10^th in the country with 174 visits and NH ranked 18^th with 183 visits, compared to an average of 197 in the United States.

Data source: Commonwealth Fund State Health System