The Veterans RAND 12-Item Health Survey (VR-12) and EQ-5D-5L are widely used generic patient-reported outcome measures; nevertheless, these tools should not be viewed as interchangeable. This study shows that, for patients who presented in emergency departments in the province of British Columbia, the VR-12 physical and mental component summary scores (including the VR-12 utility score) offer greater discrimination of mental or emotional health status than the EQ-5D-5L index score. The VR-12 is recommended for use in emergency department surveys, when insights into mental or emotional health conditions are relevant.