Trends and Disparities in the Distribution of Outpatient Physicians' Annual Face Time with Patients, 1979-2018.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Physician time is a valuable yet finite resource. Whether such time is apportioned equitably among population subgroups, and how the provision of that time has changed in recent decades, is unclear.

Objective

To investigate trends and racial/ethnic disparities in the receipt of annual face time with physicians in the USA.

Design

Repeated cross-sectional.

Setting

National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 1979-1981, 1985, 1989-2016, 2018.

Participants

Office-based physicians.

Measures

Exposures included race/ethnicity (White, Black, and Hispanic); age (<18, 18-64, and 65+); and survey year. Our main outcome was patients' annual visit face time with a physician; secondary outcomes include annual visit rates and mean visit duration.

Resul

SUBMITTER: Gaffney A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9905461 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature