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TUESDAY, June 5, 2018 (HealthDay News) — There is considerable variation in office-based physician visit rates by patient age and sex, according to a June data brief published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).<\/p>\n
Jill J. Ashman, Ph.D., from the NCHS in Hyattsville, Md., and colleagues used data from the 2015 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey to describe the characteristics of office-based physician visits in 2015.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that there were an estimated 313 office-based physician visits per 100 persons in 2015. The visit rate was higher among females than males, and for infants and older adults compared to those aged 1 to 64 years. The primary expected source of payment for the majority of visits by children aged younger than 18 years and adults aged 18 to 64 years was private insurance; the primary expected source of payment for most visits by adults aged 65 years and older was Medicare. The percentage of visits for preventive care or a new problem was larger for children than adults. The percentage of visits that included a laboratory test, imaging service, or procedure that was ordered or provided was larger for adults than children.<\/p>\n
“This report shows that there is wide variation by age in the characteristics of visits to office-based physicians in the United States,” the authors write.<\/p>\n