Table 3.

Medical Care Characteristics, Percentage of Office Visits, NAMCS Data, 1997–2000

	Visit Type
Medical Care Characteristic	*FP-WR (n = 326)**	OP-WR (n = 2,061)	OccMed-WR (n = 180)	FP-NWR (n = 12,865)
NAMCS = National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey; ICD-9 = International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision; FP-WR = visit to family practice physician for work-related condition; OP-WR = visit to non–family practice physician for work-related condition; OccMed-WR = visit to occupational medicine physician for work-related condition; FP-NWR = visit to family practice physician for non–work-related condition; RN = registered nurse; LPN = licensed practical nurse; HMO = health maintenance organization.
* Reference category for comparison.
† P <.05
‡ P <.01
§ P <.001
Major reason for visit
Acute problem	55.3	35.4^§	48.5	48.4^†
Chronic problem, routine	16.9	20.7	7.1^§	22.7^†
Chronic problem, flare-up	10.5	9.1	5.4^‡	8.7
Presurgery or postsurgery/injury follow-up	12.2	30.4^§	36.1^§	2.4^§
Non-illness (eg, routine prenatal, general examination, well-baby)	3.5	2.1	1.8	16.1^‡
Patient’s chief complaints and symptoms
Musculoskeletal symptoms	46.5	50.7	50.8	10.3^§
Injury or poisoning	28.5	16.0^§	25.3	2.7^§
Physician’s diagnosis of patient’s condition (ICD-9 groupings)
Infectious and parasitic diseases	0.1	0.2	0.0	3.5^§
Neoplasm	0.0	0.1	0.0	1.2
Endocrine, nutritional, metabolic, and immune disorders	0.0	0.2	0.0	7.3^§
Mental disorders	1.1	4.0^§	1.0	3.8^§
Diseases of nervous system, sense organs	5.5	6.7	2.7^‡	5.7
Diseases of circulatory system	1.5	0.5^†	0.0	9.6^§
Diseases of respiratory system	1.7	0.5^‡	0.0	19.4^§
Diseases of digestive system	0.6	1.3	0.8	3.9^†
Diseases of genitourinary system	0.5	0.1	0.0	4.7^‡
Diseases of skin, subcutaneous tissue, hair, nails	1.2	1.2	0.0	4.4^§
Diseases of musculoskeletal system, connective tissue	25.3	28.9	28.5	8.0^§
Symptoms, signs, and ill-defined conditions	1.8	2.5	2.0	7.1^§
Injury and poisoning	54.0	43.9^‡	58.8	6.4^§
Supplementary classification and other diagnoses	6.1	9.8	5.4	14.1^†
Visit was related to a specific injury or poisoning	94.1	89.4	95.2	10.2^§
Visit was related to a self-inflicted injury or poisoning	0.0	0.4	0.0	0.0
Patient’s condition resulted from an assault	2.4	2.1	1.3^†	0.1^§
Services provided during visit
Diagnostic and screening services	72.2	56.6^§	74.3	80.8^‡
Blood pressure reading	57.2	24.2^§	54.6	66.7^†
Radiograph	20.0	21.2	21.8	6.3^§
Therapeutic and preventive services	46.0	50.3	68.7^§	36.7^†
Exercise counseling and education	14.9	14.2	14.9	13.1
Injury prevention counseling and education	15.4	13.5	43.5^§	2.9^§
Mental health counseling and education	0.8	2.1^†	0.0	2.4^§
Surgical procedures	4.5	2.6^‡	2.6	2.6
Therapy provided during visit
Physiotherapy	19.6	23.6	32.7^‡	2.5^§
Psychotherapy	0.0	3.6^§	1.3^†	0.7
Psychopharmacotherapy	0.3	3.2^‡	0.0	0.5
At least 1 drug was prescribed during the visit	65.2	46.7^§	52.8	76.3^§
Medical professionals seen during the visit
Physician	96.3	96.8	94.2	95.1
Physician assistant	1.0	2.7^†	0.1^§	1.7
Nurse-practitioner	2.1	0.5^‡	0.0	1.8
Nurse-midwife	0.0	0.1	0.3	0.1
RN	19.8	7.5^§	8.7^‡	16.1
LPN	20.1	6.4^§	0.0^§	18.6
Medical/nursing assistant	23.2	15.6^§	17.9	25.6
Other	1.9	5.6^§	5.3^†	3.0
Physician was patient’s regular primary care physician	59.2	13.1^§	7.9^§	84.8^§
Primary expected source of payment for the visit
Private insurance	16.3	10.3^§	0.7^§	58.3^§
Medicare	2.0	2.0	0.0	17.3^§
Medicaid	3.0	0.3^§	0.0^†	9.3^§
Self-pay	2.4	1.0^†	0.3^‡	7.0^‡
Workers’ compensation	73.3	83.4^‡	93.8^§	0.0^§
No charge	0.7	0.1	0.0	0.3
Other	1.1	2.1	5.3^§	5.3^§
Unknown	0.5	0.5	0.0	1.8
Care was provided in an HMO setting	15.9	10.2^‡	10.7	31.0^§
Capitated payment basis for the visit	7.2	4.2	6.2	16.9^‡
Patient was a new patient	19.7	22.1	26.5	8.0^§
Patient was referred by another physician/health plan	9.6	31.5^§	21.1^†	3.3^‡
Authorization from insurer was required for care	19.6	40.4^§	47.0^§	3.2^§
Time spent with physician, mean, min	16.1	19.4^§	22.0^§	16.3