Mental Health and Substance Misuse-Related Emergency Department Discharges in Urban Counties of North Carolina.

Background: National evidence suggests that there is considerable variation between regions in emergency department utilization for routine health care needs. Many emergency departments are poorly equipped to manage the needs of patients with mental health or substance misuse diagnoses, who could often be more effectively managed in other settings. We sought to quantify differences in the frequency of mental health and substance misuse-related emergency department encounters across urban counties in North Carolina.