National Ambulatory
Medical Care Survey: 1993 Summary
This
report presents national estimates of the provision and utilization of ambulatory medical
care services provided by office-based physicians in the United States during 1993. The
estimates are based on data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS). The
NAMCS, a probability sample survey, began in 1973 and was conducted annually through 1981.
It was next conducted in 1985 and resumed an annual schedule in 1989. This report
describes the provision and utilization of ambulatory medical care services in terms of
patient characteristics (age, sex, and race), physician characteristics (specialty and
professional status), and visit characteristics (patient's principal reason for visit,
physician's principal diagnosis, checklist of medical conditions, injury-related visits,
diagnostic and therapeutic services, and other characteristics).
Data
Highlights: Females had a higher annual rate of office visits (3.3 visits
per person) compared with males (2.3 visits per person). Females had
significantly higher visit rates than males in each category with the exception of the
youngest (under 15 years) and the two older groups (65-74 years and 75 years and over).
Among males, the rate increased with each successive age group after 15-24 years. More than 6 of
every 10 office visits (61.5 percent) were made to primary care physicians. There was an
average of 33 injury-related office visits per 100 persons. Hypertension
was the most common diagnosis rendered by physicians, cited at 3.9 percent of the visits.