{"id":2912,"date":"2025-08-01T07:00:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T11:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/?page_id=2912"},"modified":"2026-01-30T16:43:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T21:43:26","slug":"follow-up-after-emergency-department-visit-for-substance-use-fua","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/report-cards\/health-plans\/state-of-health-care-quality-report\/follow-up-after-emergency-department-visit-for-substance-use-fua\/","title":{"rendered":"Follow-Up After Emergency Department Visit for Substance Use (FUA)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The percentage of emergency department (ED) visits among persons age 13 years and older with a principal diagnosis of substance use disorder (SUD), or any diagnosis of drug overdose, for which there was follow-up. Two rates are reported:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The percentage of ED visits for which the person received follow-up within 30 days of the ED visit (31 total days).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. The percentage of ED visits for which the person received follow-up within 7 days of the ED visit (8 total days).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Why It Matters<\/h2>\n

    SUDs are a prevalent and serious public health issue and, if left untreated, can lead to damaging effects on an individual\u2019s health, finances and overall well-being. In 2019, 20.4 million individuals in the U.S. 12 or older (i.e., approximately 7.4% of the population) reported having an SUD within the past year (1)<\/sup>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    The use of ED services among the SUD or drug misuse population is common, where 1 in 8 ED visits in the U.S. were found to be related to SUDs and mental health disorders in 2007 (2)<\/sup>. Utilization of ED services for substance use is growing among certain subpopulations, particularly individuals aged 18 to 34, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the rate of ED visits for a primary diagnosis or primary complaint of SUD increased from 45.4 to 77.0 visits per 10,000 individuals between 2008 and 2016 (3)<\/sup>. In addition to visits for an SUD diagnosis, ED visits attributed to drug overdose are also prevalent. National surveillance data reveals that approximately 75% (435,983) of all ED visits for drug-related poisonings in the U.S., excluding alcohol, were due to nonfatal drug overdoses of unintentional or undetermined intent in 2016 (age-adjusted rate of 137.2 visits per 100,000 population) (4)<\/sup>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    The ED is uniquely positioned to improve care for patients with SUD and prevent overdose death because this care setting is the primary provider of acute illness stabilization, timely diagnosis and links to appropriate follow-up care (5)<\/sup>. Individuals who are seen in the ED due to substance misuse are at high-risk of subsequent adverse events, especially within the year following their ED visit (6,7,8)<\/sup>. This measure focuses on ensuring care coordination for members who are discharged from the ED following high-risk substance use events, since those individuals may be particularly vulnerable to losing contact with the health care system.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    * Adapted from an NCQA measure with financial support from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) under Prime Contract No. HHSP23320100019WI\/HHSP23337001T, in which NCQA was a subcontractor to Mathematica. Additional financial support was provided by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Historical Results \u2013 National Averages<\/span><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The percentage of emergency department (ED) visits among persons age 13 years and older with a principal diagnosis of substance use disorder (SUD), or any diagnosis of drug overdose, for which there was follow-up. Two rates are reported:\u00a0 The percentage of ED visits for which the person received follow-up within 30 days of the ED […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":733,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2912","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFollow-Up After Emergency Department Visit for Substance Use (FUA) - NCQA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Assesses emergency department (ED) visits for members 13 years of age and older with a principal diagnosis of alcohol or other drug (AOD) abuse or dependence, who had a follow up visit for AOD.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/report-cards\/health-plans\/state-of-health-care-quality-report\/follow-up-after-emergency-department-visit-for-substance-use-fua\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Follow-Up After Emergency Department Visit for Substance Use (FUA) - NCQA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Assesses emergency department (ED) visits for members 13 years of age and older with a principal diagnosis of alcohol or other drug (AOD) abuse or dependence, who had a follow up visit for AOD.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/report-cards\/health-plans\/state-of-health-care-quality-report\/follow-up-after-emergency-department-visit-for-substance-use-fua\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NCQA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/NCQA.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-30T21:43:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/NCQA_cmyk_tag.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"627\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@NCQA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/report-cards\/health-plans\/state-of-health-care-quality-report\/follow-up-after-emergency-department-visit-for-substance-use-fua\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/report-cards\/health-plans\/state-of-health-care-quality-report\/follow-up-after-emergency-department-visit-for-substance-use-fua\/\",\"name\":\"Follow-Up After Emergency Department Visit for Substance Use (FUA) - NCQA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-01T11:00:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-30T21:43:26+00:00\",\"description\":\"Assesses emergency department (ED) visits for members 13 years of age and older with a principal diagnosis of alcohol or other drug (AOD) abuse or dependence, who had a follow up visit for AOD.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/report-cards\/health-plans\/state-of-health-care-quality-report\/follow-up-after-emergency-department-visit-for-substance-use-fua\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/report-cards\/health-plans\/state-of-health-care-quality-report\/follow-up-after-emergency-department-visit-for-substance-use-fua\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/report-cards\/health-plans\/state-of-health-care-quality-report\/follow-up-after-emergency-department-visit-for-substance-use-fua\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Report Cards\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/report-cards\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Health Plans\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/report-cards\/health-plans\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"State of Health Care Quality Report\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/report-cards\/health-plans\/state-of-health-care-quality-report\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":5,\"name\":\"Follow-Up After Emergency Department Visit for Substance Use (FUA)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ncqa.org\/\",\"name\":\"NCQA\",\"description\":\"Measuring quality. 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