This is a comparative study of hospital emergency services. Its main purpose is to describe the organization and assess the effectiveness of emergency care delivery units/departments. Aspects of effectiveness to be considered include economic efficiency, the quality of service or clinical efficiency, responsiveness to community expectations, and staff and patient satisfaction. One major objective is to examine the nature and sources of inter-hospital differences in emergency service effectiveness. Another is to specify those organizational factors and conditions which promote (impede) successful problem-solving and effective performance in hospital emergency services. The study covers a significant segment of the hospital population -- the nonfederal, not-for-profit, short-stay general hospitals in the 100-499-bed range within HEW Region V (Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota) which have an emergency department. Nearly 450 hospitals meet these criteria and will be represented with a ten percent stratified, cross-sectional, probability sample. The sample consists of 44 hospitals located in the above states. The emergency departments of these institutions will be studied. Data will be obtained from administrative staff, physicians, nurses, recent patients, selected individuals in the community, from hospital records, and from supplemental sources. Individual Institutions and respondents will be guaranteed anonymity and assured of the confidentiality of the data that they provide.