Dataset Information

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.

Results

Our sample included n=1,108,835 patient visits. From 1979 to 2018, annual outpatient physician face time per capita rose from 40.0 to 60.4 min, an increase driven by a rise in mean visit length and not in the number of visits. However, since 2005, mean annual face time with a primary care physician has fallen, a decline offset by rising time with specialists. Face time provided per physician changed little given growth in the physician workforce. A racial/ethnic gap in physician visit time present at the beginning of the study period widened over time. In 2014-2018, White individuals received 70.0 min of physician face time per year, vs. 52.4 among Black and 53.0 among Hispanic individuals. This disparity was driven by differences in visit rates, not mean visit length, and in the provision of specialist but not primary care.

Limitation

Self-reported visit length.

Conclusion

Americans' annual face time with office-based physicians rose for three decades after 1979, yet is still allocated inequitably, particularly by specialists; meanwhile, time spent by Americans with primary care physicians is falling. These trends and disparities may adversely affect patient outcomes. Policy change is needed to assure better allocation of this resource.

SUBMITTER: Gaffney A

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

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

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

Gaffney Adam A Himmelstein David U DU Dickman Samuel S McCormick Danny D Cai Christopher C Woolhandler Steffie S

Journal of general internal medicine 20220606 2

<h4>Background</h4>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.<h4>Objective</h4>To investigate trends and racial/ethnic disparities in the receipt of annual face time with physicians in the USA.<h4>Design</h4>Repeated cross-sectional.<h4>Setting</h4>National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, 1979-1981, 1985, 1989-2016, 2018.<h4>Participants</h4> ...[more]

PMID: 35668239

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Dataset Information

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

Background

Objective

Design

Setting

Participants

Measures

Results

Limitation

Conclusion

Publications

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

Similar Datasets

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