National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 1993 Summary

Advance Data 270.  In 1993, 717.2 million visits were made to nonfederally employed, office-based physicians in the United States, which represents about 2.8 visits per person. This rate is not significantly different from office visit rates observed since 1985. This report presents data highlights from the 1993 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), a national probability sample survey. The survey was conducted by the Division of Health Statistics of the National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Data Highlights:

Females made 60.0 percent of all office visits during 1993. Females also had significantly higher visit rates than males in each age group with the exception of the youngest group (under 15 years) and the two oldest groups (65-74 and 75 years and over ). These patterns were also observed in the 1990-92 NAMCS.

The visit rate for the white population was significantly higher (3.0 visits per person) than the rate for the black population (1.8 visits per person) in 1993.

There were an estimated 84.0 million injury-related office visits in 1993, representing 11.7 percent of all office visits. Half of the injury visits (51.0 percent) were made by males, and 38.8 percent were made by persons 25-44 years of age.

Approximately 73.0 percent of all office visits included one or more tests, procedures, or therapies. Blood pressure was the most frequently mentioned test recorded (49.8 percent of visits) while human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) serology was ordered or provided at 0.3 percent of office visits.

This page last reviewed January 11, 2007