Skip to main content

Table 1 National estimates of general and family medicine patient visits (in millions) according to physician provider type.*

From: A comparison of patient visits to osteopathic and allopathic general and family medicine physicians: results from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2003–2004

 

Physician Provider Type

     
 

DO

MD

     

Patient or Visit Characteristic

No.

%

No.

%

OR†

95% CI

Osteopathic PAP‡

Age, yr

         

   ≤24

9.0

13.9

57.2

20.7

0.64

0.45

-

0.91

14

   25–44

15.4

23.7

67.9

24.5

0.80

0.60

-

1.06

18

   45–64

23.4

36.1

90.7

32.8

0.95

0.75

-

1.20

21

   ≥65

17.1

26.3

60.8

22.0

 

...

 

22

Sex

         

   Female

38.4

59.2

161.2

58.3

 

...

 

19

   Male

26.5

40.8

115.3

41.7

0.99

0.85

-

1.14

19

Race

         

   White

59.3

91.4

236.9

85.7

 

...

 

20

   Black

4.6

7.1

28.7

10.4

0.69

0.38

-

1.27

14

   Other

0.9

1.5

10.9

4.0

0.39

0.18

-

0.82

8

Ethnicity

         

   Non-Hispanic

61.2

94.3

246.4

89.1

 

...

 

20

   Hispanic

3.7

5.7

30.1

10.9

0.63

0.40

-

1.00

11

Geographic region

         

   Northeast

18.0

27.8

34.1

12.3

2.94

1.42

-

6.08

35

   Midwest

20.9

32.2

73.3

26.5

1.79

0.93

-

3.43

22

   South

14.6

22.4

105.9

38.3

0.83

0.41

-

1.67

12

   West

11.4

17.6

63.1

22.8

 

...

 

15

Residence in MSA

         

   Yes

57.4

88.5

220.4

79.7

 

...

 

21

   No

7.4

11.5

56.1

20.3

0.43

0.18

-

1.06

12

Episode of care

         

   Initial visit

23.6

36.3

108.1

39.1

 

...

 

18

   Follow-up visit

33.0

50.8

113.1

40.9

1.27

0.97

-

1.67

23

   Unknown

8.3

12.9

55.3

20.0

0.74

0.38

-

1.46

13

Major reason for visit

         

   Acute problem

30.2

46.5

126.5

45.7

 

...

 

19

   Chronic problem

27.3

42.0

98.0

35.4

0.92

0.69

-

1.22

22

   Preventive care

6.3

9.7

42.7

15.4

0.92

0.45

-

1.86

13

   Other/unknown

1.2

1.8

9.3

3.4

0.53

0.27

-

1.04

11

  1. *Derived from the 2003 and 2004 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey using population estimates based on patient visit weights. CI denotes confidence interval; DO, osteopathic physician; MD, allopathic physician; MSA, metropolitan statistical area; OR, odds ratio, PAP, population attributable percentage.
  2. †ORs are for the utilization of osteopathic physicians relative to allopathic physicians, and are adjusted for the other patient or visit characteristics in the table.
  3. ‡Osteopathic PAP refers to the percentage of physician visits provided by osteopathic physicians.
  4. §Reference category for OR.