ED visits for ambulatory-care-sensitive conditions (per 1,000)
Efficiency & Value
How this indicator is defined
Methodology version v1.0
Rate, per 1,000 attributed patients, of emergency-department visits for conditions that are generally manageable in a well-functioning primary-care setting.
Events per 1,000 patients
The count of ACSC ED visit events among attributed patients within the 1-year window, divided by the eligible population and multiplied by 1,000. Counts events, not unique patients (one patient can contribute more than one event).
Data inputs
- ACSC ED visit
Derived from
What this indicator measures— Name, alignment, goal, rationale.
- Indicator nameField 1 — Indicator name
- ED visits for ambulatory-care-sensitive conditions (per 1,000)
- AlignmentField 2 — Alignment
- CIHI — Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSC) indicator
- Illustrative synthetic-demo definition pending clinical review
- Strategic goalField 3 — Strategic goal
- Reduce avoidable emergency-department utilization by strengthening proactive management of chronic conditions in primary care.
- RationaleField 5 — Rationale
- ACSC ED visits are a widely-used proxy for primary-care access and chronic-disease management. A lower rate reflects better continuity and anticipatory care; the measure is reported per 1,000 patients so panels of different sizes are comparable.
How it's computed— Scoring method, numerator, denominator, inclusions, exclusions.
- NumeratorField 6 — Numerator
- Count of ACSC-coded emergency-department visits by attributed patients within the reporting window (events, not unique patients — a patient with 3 visits contributes 3).
- DenominatorField 7 — Denominator
All active attributed patients age 18+ at reporting-period end.
- Sex eligibility:
- Age range: 18–120
- Active as of reporting-period end: yes
- ExclusionsField 9 — Exclusions
- Visits for conditions outside the CIHI ACSC list (e.g. trauma, acute surgical emergencies).
- Patients deceased before the reporting-period end date.
How patients are attributed— Attribution rule and risk adjustment.
- Attribution ruleField 10 — Attribution rule
- Enrolment (rostered)
- Risk-adjustment modelField 11 — Risk-adjustment model
- None
How comparison works— Peer group, reliability threshold, peer comparator.
- Reliability thresholdField 13 — Reliability threshold
- 30
Data + reporting— Data source, reporting frequency, direction of improvement, limitations.
- Reporting frequencyField 15 — Reporting frequency
- quarterly
- Direction of improvementField 16 — Direction of improvement
- Lower is better
Targets + governance— Target, justification, owner, review, approval, version, notes.
- TargetField 18 — Target
- 20 per 1,000 — the clinic's target for this indicator, set by the product owner.
- Methodology versionField 23 — Methodology version
- v1.0