National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 1996 Summary

Advance Data 295.   In 1996, 734.6 million visit were made to nonfederally employed, office-based physicians in the United States, which represents about three visits per person. One quarter of the visits were made to general and family physicians, which was significantly higher than the other 13 specialties. This report presents data from the 1996 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), a national probability sample survey conducted by the Division of Health Care Statistics of the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Data Highlights:

Females made 59.2 percent of all office visits during 1996. Females also had significantly higher visits rates than males in each age category with the exception of the youngest (under 15) and the two oldest groups 65-74 and 75 years and over.

In general, most visits were expected to be paid for with some type of insurance. Insured, fee-for-service was the most common type of expected payment (35.9 percent), followed by HMO/other prepaid (26 percent). Preferred provider option plans (PPOs) accounted for 13.4 percent of physician visits.

There were an estimated 87.6 million injury-related visits during 1996, or 33.1 visits per 100 persons.

Pelvic, visual, and breast examinations were either ordered or provided at about 7.0 percent of office visits. The most frequently mention test performed was the blood pressure check which accounted for 44 percent of office visits, followed by urinalysis which accounted for 13.1 percent of office visits.

Keywords: physicians, diagnoses, injury, ICD-9-CM

This page last reviewed January 11, 2007