National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 1997 Outpatient Department Summary Advance Data 307. In 1997, an estimated 77 million visits were made to Outpatient Departments (OPDs) of non-Federal, short-stay, or general hospitals in the United States, about 28.9 visits per 100 persons. This report presents data on OPD visits from the 1997 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which measures health care utilization across various types of providers.Data Highlights: Females made 59.9 percent of all OPD visits. Visit rates were higher for females than for males in the age groups between 15 and 44 years of age. Visit rates for black persons were higher than for white persons overall and in all age categories except among children under 15 years of age. Progress visits, general medical examinations, and routine prenatal examinations were the most frequently mentioned reasons for visit. Imaging was most often in the form of an x-ray and mentioned at 7.5 percent of all visits. During 1997, there were 109.1 million drugs mentioned at OPD visits. This yields an average of 1.4 drug mentions per OPD visit or 2.3 drug mentions per drug visit. Keywords: Outpatient Department Visits, diagnoses, injury, ICD-9-CM
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January 11, 2007
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