BACKGROUND Some doubt the desirability and cost-effectiveness of continuing to provide an expanded scope of primary care practice. Additionally, there has been concern about declining reimbursement from Medicaid and Medicare. Although an expanded scope of patient care services are required for training, we wanted to determine whether these services drain resources and time from other primary ca...

OBJECTIVE This report describes ambulatory care visits to physician offices, hospital outpatient departments (OPDs), and hospital emergency departments (EDs) as well as factors that may affect where care is sought. Ambulatory medical care utilization is described in terms of patient, practice/facility, and visit characteristics. Visits to office-based physicians are divided into the categories ...

BACKGROUND Seasonal variation has been demonstrated in many diseases, including certain skin diseases. OBJECTIVE To determine whether there is seasonal variation in dermatologic office visits in the USA. METHODS Data on dermatologic office visits were obtained from representative visits to outpatient physicians in the USA from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey from 1990 to 1998. O...

BACKGROUND eHealth is a broad term referring to the application of information and communication technologies in the health sector, ranging from health records to telemedicine and multiple forms of health education and digital tools. By providing increased and anytime access to information, opportunities to exchange experiences with others, and self-management support, eHealth has been heralded...

BACKGROUND The prescription drug benefit is commonly designed and managed as a stand-alone health insurance product without consideration of how the design of other medical benefits may impact its use. OBJECTIVE To determine the effects of member cost (copayment/coinsurance) increases on the relationship between the use of physician office visits and the type/tier of prescription medication p...

AIMS As the proportion of people with multiple chronic conditions grows, so does the complexity of patient care. Although office-based visits to subspecialists are expected to be intense, due to the focused nature of the visit, the complexity of office-based visits to primary care physicians has yet to be explored in depth. To explore complexity, we looked at diabetes as a case study to determi...

BACKGROUND Prior to 2010, Medicare payments for consultations (commonly billed by specialists) were substantially higher than for office visits of similar complexity (commonly billed by primary care physicians). In January 2010, Medicare eliminated consultation payments from the Part B Physician Fee Schedule and increased fees for office visits. This change was intended to be budget neutral and...

OBJECTIVE This report describes ambulatory medical care visits to nonfederally employed, office-based physicians in the United States during 1995 and 1996. Statistics are presented on selected physician, patient, and visit characteristics. METHODS The data in this report were collected in the 1995 and 1996 National Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys (NAMCS). The NAMCS is part of the ambulatory c...

OBJECTIVES To assess knowledge and understanding of cost-sharing responsibilities and whether that knowledge and understanding influence actual and perceived use of healthcare services. STUDY DESIGN A 3000-person random sample was drawn from a state employee database in Massachusetts. METHODS Survey responses and claims analyses were used to assess knowledge of cost sharing and healthcare u...