Table 2.
National estimates of time spent with physician during general and family medicine patient visits.*
Time† (min) | |||
Patient or Visit Characteristic | Mean | SE | P |
Age, yr | |||
≤24 | 17.21 | 0.78 | < .001 |
25–44 | 20.15 | 0.91 | .68 |
45–64 | 20.27 | 0.91 | .83 |
≥65 | 20.36 | 0.82 | ‡ |
Sex | |||
Female | 19.50 | 0.84 | ‡ |
Male | 19.50 | 0.82 | .91 |
Race | |||
White | 19.55 | 0.62 | ‡ |
Black | 19.23 | 0.90 | .66 |
Other | 19.71 | 1.47 | .90 |
Ethnicity | |||
Non-Hispanic | 19.42 | 0.75 | ‡ |
Hispanic | 19.57 | 0.98 | .80 |
Geographic region | |||
Northeast | 20.90 | 1.21 | .21 |
Midwest | 18.23 | 0.78 | .09 |
South | 19.26 | 0.97 | .66 |
West | 19.61 | 0.90 | ‡ |
Residence in MSA | |||
Yes | 19.16 | 0.81 | ‡ |
No | 19.84 | 0.99 | .38 |
Episode of care | |||
Initial visit | 19.36 | 0.93 | ‡ |
Follow-up visit | 19.35 | 0.94 | .99 |
Unknown | 19.78 | 0.92 | .65 |
Major reason for visit | |||
Acute problem | 17.16 | 0.80 | ‡ |
Chronic problem | 18.43 | 0.75 | .01 |
Preventive care | 22.52 | 1.22 | < .001 |
Other/unknown | 19.88 | 1.39 | .02 |
Provider type | |||
Allopathic physician | 19.65 | 0.77 | ‡ |
Osteopathic physician | 19.34 | 1.04 | .71 |
*Derived from the 2003 and 2004 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey using population estimates based on patient visit weights. MSA denotes metropolitan statistical area.
†Time spent with physician is adjusted for the patient or visit characteristics in the table.
‡Reference category for contrasts.