Introduction
concussion
Millions of children sustain a concussion annually in North America, and more seek medical care each year [In 2015, the Maternal Newborn Child & Youth Strategic Clinical Network of Alberta Health Services (AHS), the provincial health care system, convened a workgroup to develop a clinical pathway for acute care of concussion in the emergency department (ED). We sought to test the effects of implementing the pathway on patient outcomes and health care utilization and costs using an active, planned intervention. Here, we report on the impact on health care utilization and costs. We hypothesized implementation would result in decreased likelihood of ED return visits; increased likelihood of outpatient follow-up; decreased length of stay in the ED, particularly in the time from physician initial assessment to disposition; and reduced costs of episodes of care.