Outpatient Follow-up Care for Diabetes Following Discharge from the Emergency Department

Over 16 million adult patients visit the emergency department (ED) for diabetes-related conditions yearly. Although most patients are discharged from the ED without requiring hospitalization, it is unknown how often these individuals obtain outpatient follow-up care for medication adjustment, symptom monitoring, and counseling. To describe incidence, timing, and patient characteristics associated with outpatient follow-up after discharge from the ED for diabetes-related encounters in a national cohort. Retrospective cohort study. Adults with commercial insurance or Medicare Advantage who were discharged from the ED with principal encounter diagnosis related to type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus. The primary outcome was an outpatient visit for diabetes-related care within 30 days of ED discharge. Return ED visit prior to outpatient follow-up was treated as a competing outcome. Multivariable competing risk regression models were used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for patient characteristics associated with obtaining follow-up, including demographic, socioeconomic, and clinical factors. Of the 131,881 patients included in this study (mean age, 63.0 years; 51.6