In 2015, the percentage of office-based physician visits by adults with two or more diagnosed chronic conditions was 53.1% for primary care physicians, 38.5% for medical specialists, and 23.9% for surgeons. This pattern was observed for each of the age groups studied. The percentage of visits increased with age group, regardless of specialty category.
Source: National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 2015 data. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/ahcd/ahcd_questionnaires.htm.
Footnotes
With 95% confidence intervals indicated by error bars.
Based on a sample of visits to nonfederally employed office-based physicians who are primarily engaged in direct patient care. Physicians in specialties of anesthesiology, pathology, and radiology are excluded from the survey.
Defined as visits made by adults with documentation in the medical record of a diagnosis of ≥2 selected chronic conditions, regardless of the diagnosis of the current visit. Selected diagnosed chronic conditions include the 10 most frequent: hypertension; hyperlipidemia; arthritis; diabetes; depression; obesity; cancer; coronary artery disease, ischemic heart disease, and/or history of myocardial infarction; asthma; and chronic kidney disease.