Who do freestanding emergency departments treat? Comparing Texas hospitals to satellite and independent freestanding departments in 2021 and 2022.

Objective: The objective was to describe characteristics of emergency department visits to Texas satellite and independent freestanding emergency departments (FrEDs) relative to hospital emergency departments (EDs).

Data Sources And Study Setting: The study used all 2021-2022 hospital and FrED discharges from the publicly available Texas Emergency Department Public Use Data Files (PUDF).

Study Design: We conducted a descriptive analysis, comparing patient and visit characteristics at satellite and independent FrEDs and hospital EDs using chi-square tests.