Venkatesh AK, Mei H, Liu S, et al. - In order to determine the use and role of the ED in providing unscheduled care to vulnerable older adult populations, a claims‐based definition of unscheduled care was sought. National 20% sample of Medicare beneficiaries included in the 2012 Chronic Condition Warehouse dataset were used in cross‐sectional analysis. They identified a total of 10,717,786 Medicare beneficiaries with 33,696,461 potentially unscheduled care visits; of these, 5,192,235 (15%) were observed in the ED, 364,334 (1.1%) in facility based urgent care, and 31,570,113 (84%) in ambulatory office settings. Disproportionate visits of Medicare beneficiaries, particularly vulnerable subpopulations, to the ED were observed in comparison to physician offices for unscheduled care. Higher ED visit rates and lower non‐ED visit rates for unscheduled care were reported among dual eligible beneficiaries. Both the ED and non‐ED setting were used more for unscheduled care by the subpopulation with multiple chronic conditions than any other group. They recommend acknowledging these patterns and the unique availability of acute care services in the ED, in efforts to enhance care coordination, measure quality, or reform payment to influence ED visitation.