The study analyzed 136,236 adult patients admitted to 271 intensive care units (ICUs) from 186 US hospitals using the eICU-CRD database. Patients were grouped by ICU type for diagnoses such as cerebrovascular accident, acute coronary syndrome, coronary artery bypass graft, pneumonia, other respiratory disease, and trauma. Compared to the general ICU, cardiac ICU admission had a lower mortality risk (OR: 0.81, p < 0.001), surgical ICU also lower (OR: 0.88, p = 0.041), while neuro ICU higher (OR: 1.32, p < 0.001). In non-trauma patients, discordant ICU triage was not associated with higher mortality than concordant triage. In trauma patients, discordant triage was associated with higher in-hospital mortality (OR: 1.87, p = 0.005), partially mediated by mechanical ventilation (OR = 1.007, p < 0.001). With limited resources, patchy ICU triage may be a viable option.