1. Office visits to physicians accounted for about 16 percent of total healthcare expenses for the civilian noninstitutionalized population.
2. Private insurance paid for nearly half (48.3 percent) of all expenses for these visits. Medicare covered 21.1 percent, Medicaid covered 7 percent and 14.1 percent of expenses were paid out-of-pocket.
3. More than one-third of visits for office-based physician care (37.2 percent) were to primary care doctors in general practice, family practice, or internal medicine. Other types of physicians seen were:
- Pediatrics (9.2 percent)
- Obstetrics and gynecology (7.6 percent)
- Ophthalmology (6.1 percent)
- Orthopedics (5.1 percent)
- Psychiatry (4.1 percent)
- Cardiology (3.3 percent)
- Dermatology (2.9 percent)
- Other (24.4 percent)
4. Only 24.2 percent of expenditures were for visits to primary care doctors in general practice, family practice, or internal medicine despite them accounting for 37.2 percent of visits. Expenditures for visits to pediatricians also comprised a disproportionately low share of total expenditures for office-based physician care (9.2 percent of visits versus 5.8 percent of expenses).
Ophthalmology (8.2 percent of expenditures v. 6.1 percent of visits), orthopedics (7 percent of expenditures v. 5.1 percent of visits) and cardiology (5 percent of expenditures v. 3.3 percent of visits) captured a greater percentage of expenditures than visits.
5. The average expenditure for an office-based physician visit was $155. Here are the average expenditures by specialty in order of dollars from greatest to lowest, with the average expenditure provided in parentheses.
- Cardiology ($232)
- Orthopedics ($210)
- Ophthalmology ($206)
- Obstetrics and gynecology ($153)
- Dermatology ($142)
- General/family practice, internal medicine ($101)
- Pediatrics ($98)
- Psychiatry ($95)
6. The median per visit expenditure was $72. Here are the median expenditures by specialty in order of dollars from greatest to lowest, with the median expenditure provided in parentheses.
- Orthopedics ($88)
- Ophthalmology ($86)
- Obstetrics and gynecology ($84)
- Cardiology ($83)
- Dermatology ($80)
- Psychiatry ($72)
- Pediatrics ($70)
- General/family practice, internal medicine ($64)
7. The average percentage paid out of pocket for office-based physician visits was 19.4 percent. Here are the average percentages by specialty from greatest to lowest, with the average percentage paid out of pocket in parentheses.
- Dermatology (25.7 percent)
- Ophthalmology (25.2 percent)
- Psychiatry (24.8 percent)
- General/family practice, internal medicine (20.1 percent)
- Pediatrics (18 percent)
- Obstetrics and gynecology (18 percent)
- Orthopedics (15.7 percent)
- Cardiology (12.9 percent)
Note: Estimates exclude small number of visits where no payment was made.
Source: Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends, AHRQ, Household Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, 2004.
