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.

Dodoo MS, Fryer GE, Green LA, Phillips RL, Ruddy GR, and McCann JL

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

**Annual Visits to Physicians' Offices, 1980 to 2003**
	Average number of visits per year (million):		Percentage of total visits per specialty:
Period	To all physicians	To FPs and GPs	FPs and GPs	General internists	General pediatricians	Primary care physicians*	Other specialists
1980 to 1984	581	191	33	12	11	56	44
1985 to 1989	665	200	30	11	12	53	47
1990 to 1994	707	189	27	14	11	52	48
1995 to 1999	761	187	25	16	11	52	48
2000 to 2003	838	201	24	16	12	52	48
FP = family physician; GP = general practitioner. *-FPs, GPs, general internists, and general pediatricians. Information from reference 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

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

Dodoo MS, Fryer GE, Green LA, Phillips RL, Ruddy GR, and McCann JL. Patterns of visits to physicians' offices, 1980 to 2003. Am Fam Physician. 2005 Sep 1;72(5):762.

September 2005