Americans are Spending A Lot of Time Seeking Medical Care
Filed in archive Cases by Creative Weblogging on June 24, 2006
According to the report, almost half of the visits were to primary care doctors in office-based practices; 18 percent were to medical specialists;16 percent were to surgical specialists, and ten percent were to emergency departments in hospitals.
Those enrolled in Medicaid or entirely lacking health insurance tended to use hospitals more often, which is a concern for many health care
officials. Emergency rooms are required by federal law to serve everyone, but the greater number of patients coming through their doors is overwhelming staff members and causing patients to wait longer for medical care. In 1997, the average wait time in an emergency room was 38 minutes compared to 47 minutes in 2004. That extra waiting time might be particularly concerning to patients who are critically ill or injured.
The average length of visit to a doctor's office, which was 16 minutes of face-to-face time with a physician, stayed the same. The most common diagnosis was high blood pressure, while diagnoses of diabetes rose 117 percent and diagnoses of spinal disorders rose 94 percent.
About the author: In her spare time, knotheadus writes for Epinions.com and maintains her own Web site, knot-heads.com.
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