We utilized all ED visit data for 2008Á2009 from the state public health surveillance system (3), accounting for 99.5% of the visits to North Carolina EDs. Included were visits with an ICD-9-CM diagnosis code for asthma (493.xx) in any Dx position (1Á11). We then grouped asthma visits into 11 strata based on the Dx position containing the asthma code. We identified the most frequent chief complaint and primary Dx categories for each of the 11 asthma Dx positions. We also grouped procedure codes (ICDÁ9ÁCM and CPT) for potential asthma (e.g., nebulized medications) and cardiac (e.g., electrocardiogram) conditions for each Dx position.