The objectives of this study were to develop a new “episode of care” definition for the emergency care product and to show that charges by episode are valuable in understanding the economic characteristics of emergency care. The emergency care episode (ECE) was defined as the emergency department encounter and all subsequent, related care provided within 48 hours. Data consisting of 1.6 million episodes, generated from a national claims database, were analyzed by ICD-9-CM Major Diagnostic Category (MDC) and level of service. Related adjunct services were a major determinant of episode charges, and, for several MDCs, hospitalization was important. Results support the concept that episodic data are beneficial to the economic analysis and reimbursement of emergency care.