National
Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2004 Summary.
Advance Data 374. 20 pp. (PHS) 2006-1250.
National
Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2004 Outpatient Department Summary.
Advance Data 373.20 pp. (PHS) 2006-1250.
National
Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2004 Emergency Department Summary.
Advance Data 372.20 pp. (PHS) 2006-1250.
New reports from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention examine ambulatory health care in
America. They report on the more than 1 billion visits a year Americans make
to doctors' offices, emergency rooms and hospital outpatient departments.
The latest in an annual series, these reports provide a comprehensive
analysis of visits to ambulatory health care settings in 2004.
Ambulatory
care visits have increased at three times the rate of population growth over
the past decade.
Infants
under the 1 year of age had the highest rate of visits to primary care
offices and hospital outpatient and emergency departments, compared to other
age groups.
Hospital
settings as opposed to physician offices were used more frequently for
ambulatory care by Medicaid recipients and by patients with self-pay, no
charge, or charity indicated as the expected source of payment.
The
amount of time a patient waits before seeing a physician in the emergency
department increased from 38 minutes in 1997 to 47 minutes in 2004. There
was no change in the average time--about 16 minutes--a patient spends
face-to-face with a doctor in an office visit.
For
the first time, seasonal estimates are available and show that overall,
office visits decreased from spring through the summer. Visits for mental
disorders increased during the fall. Emergency injury visits were more
likely to occur in the spring than other seasons.
Newly released data from
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are presented in a Health
E-Stat (web-based summary) and three reports: “National Ambulatory Medical
Care Survey: 2004 Summary,” “National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care
Survey: 2004 Emergency Department Summary,” and “National Hospital
Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2004 Outpatient Departments Summary,”
available at the NCHS website.