Report Ties Income Disparities To Emergency Room Visit Numbers

Residents of East Harlem visit the emergency room six times more often than those living in wealthier neighborhoods such as northeast Queens, a new report found.

The analysis, published yesterday by the United Hospital Fund, found that citywide, New Yorkers made 2.9 million visits to emergency rooms in 2006. The report documents vast disparities in the frequency of trips to the emergency room based on neighborhood, with residents of poor neighborhoods logging significantly more visits.

The number of emergency room visits in 2006 was highest in East Harlem, where there were 80 visits for every 100 neighborhood residents. Northeast Queens had the lowest proportion of emergency room visits, with 13 visits for every 100 residents. Greenwich Village and SoHo logged a similarly low rate, 15 visits for every 100 residents.

The United Hospital Fund's president, James Tallon, indicated that while hospital emergency rooms often provide routine care for the uninsured, the disparities were higher than expected. Among the 10 neighborhoods where residents visited the emergency room most often, nine were among those with the highest poverty and mortality rates, the report found.

"These findings are a continuing reminder that too many people in New York City are not receiving their care in appropriate settings," Mr. Tallon said in a statement.

According to the report, individuals 65 and older accounted for 8% of visits, and children under 4 accounted for 14% of visits.

In eight neighborhoods — including parts of Harlem and the South Bronx — the number of visits to the emergency room among young children was more than 100 visits for every 100 residents. In Highbridge and Morrisania, for example, there were 136 visits for each 100 residents. On the Upper East Side, there were 25 such visits for each 100 residents.