High and Repeated Hospital and Emergency Department Use for Mental Health and Substance Use in Canada.

Authors

Allie Chen, Pardis Noormohammadpour, Alexey Dudevich, Babita Gupta, Derek Lefebvre, Cheryl Chui

Published in

Healthcare quarterly (Toronto, Ont.). Volume 29. Issue 2. Pages 10-13.

Abstract

Individuals with mental health and substance use (MHSU) conditions account for a disproportionate share of hospital and emergency department (ED) service use in Canada. This analysis draws on three Canadian Institute for Health Information indicators: 30-day readmissions, repeat hospitalizations and frequent ED visits for help with MHSU. Results show that rates across all indicators remained persistently elevated and, in 2024-2025, were approximately 8-9% higher than those in pre-pandemic baseline years. Higher rates are consistently observed among individuals living in lower-income neighbourhoods, adults aged 25-44 years and those with substance use-related conditions. Taken together, these indicator results point to recurring patterns of acute care use that reflect gaps in continuity, access to community-based care and integration across services. Strengthening transitions of care, expanding community-based supports and improving integration for individuals with complex and co-occurring conditions are critical to reducing avoidable acute care use.

PMID:
42669635
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 31 Aug 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.