Graham Center One-Pagers

Patterns of Visits to Physicians' Offices, 1980 to 2003

In the past quarter century, the number of office visits to physicians in the United States increased from 581 million per year to 838 million per year, with slightly more than one half of total visits since 1980 being made to primary care physicians. Most visits to primary care physicians were made to family physicians (FPs) and general practitioners (GPs) until the mid 1990s, when visits to general internists and general pediatricians exceeded visits to FPs and GPs.

Millions of people visit physicians' offices in the United States each year. According to data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, there has been a large increase in such visits since 1980.1,2 From 1980 to 2003, the number of office visits made each year increased by more than 40 percent, from about 581 million to about 838 million (see accompanying table).2

During the past quarter century, more than one half of all visits made to physicians' offices in the United States were to primary care physicians. Although the overall number of visits to physicians has increased, the proportion of these visits made to primary care physicians, while remaining greater than 50 percent, has declined since 1980. This corresponds with a decline in the proportion of visits made to FPs and GPs during this period. The proportion of visits made to FPs and GPs declined by about 9 percentage points, whereas the proportion of visits made to the offices of general internists and other specialists increased by about 4 percentage points, and there was little change in the proportion of visits made to general pediatricians.

These shifts could influence health outcomes for the population and overall health care costs, and threaten the sustainability of the U.S. health care system.3

REFERENCES

1. Green LA, Dodoo MS, Ruddy G, Fryer GE, Phillips RL, McCann JL, et al. The physician workforce of the United States: a family medicine perspective. Washington, D.C.: Robert Graham Center, 2004.

2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics. National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. Analysis by the Robert Graham Center, 2004.

3. Starfield B, Shi L, Grover A, Macinko J. The effects of specialist supply on populations' health: assessing the evidence. Accessed online August 5, 2005, at: http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.w5.97v1?ct.

note: The information and opinions contained in research from the Graham Center do not necessarily reflect the views or the policy of the AAFP.

Adapted from the Graham Center One-Pager #35. Dodoo MS, Fryer GE, Green LA, Phillips RL, Ruddy GR, McCann JL, et al. Patterns of visits to physicians' offices in the United States, 1980 to 2003. September 2005. Available online at http://www.graham-center.org/onepager35.xml. From the Robert Graham Center: Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care, 1350 Connecticut Ave., NW, Suite 201, Washington, DC 20036 (telephone: 202-331-3360; fax: 202-331-3374; e-mail: policy@aafp.org).