Table 3.

Types of Visits and Frequency of Reappointments by Physician Specialty (Specialty Care Visits Only)

Visit CharacteristicsMedical Specialists No. (%)Surgical Specialists No. (%)Obstetrician- Gynecologists No. (%)Psychiatrists No. (%)All Visits No. (%)
Note: All overall differences between specialties statistically significant at the defined α = .05. All differences for referred and not referred visits statistically significant for all types of visits, shared care, and reappointments, except for reappointments for medical specialist and psychiatrists.
Type of visit
New patient
    Referred50,432,210 (38.2)70,200,541 (38.5)7,759,568 (33.6)3,193,437 (18.9)13,1585,756 (37.2)
    Not referred30,923,570 (10.9)32,540,316 (10.4)11,682,421 (7.7)2,644,147 (4.3)77,790,454 (9.6)
    Overall81,355,780 (19.5)102,740,857 (20.7)19,441,989 (11.1)5,837,584 (7.5)209,376,210 (18.0)
Known patient, new problem
    Referred20,949,555 (15.9)62,697,838 (34.4)4,183,533 (18.1)1,615,124 (9.6)8,944,6050 (25.3)
    Not referred55,484,409 (19.5)135,564,474 (43.3)31,519,810 (20.7)1,791,859 (2.9)224,360,552 (27.6)
    Overall76,433,964 (18.3)198,262,312 (40.0)35,703,343 (20.4)3,406,983 (4.4)313,806,602 (26.9)
Known patient, known problem: recurrence
    Referred9,040,755 (6.9)9,989,434 (5.5)506,161 (2.2)1,739,320 (10.3)2,1275,670 (6.0)
    Not referred23,842,104 (8.4)23,568,943 (7.5)3,543,953 (2.3)7,786,750 (12.7)5,8741,750 (7.2)
    Overall32,882,859 (7.9)33,558,377 (6.8)4,050,114 (2.3)9,526,070 (12.2)8,0017,420 (6.9)
Known patient, known problem, routine or preventive
    Referred50,241,347 (38.1)36,542,497 (20.0)9,585,362 (41.5)10,167,954 (60.2)10,6537,160 (30.1)
    Not referred168,094,186 (59.0)115,099,839 (36.7)103,209,997 (67.8)47,337,068 (77.5)433,741,090 (53.4)
    Overall218,335,533 (52.4)151,642,336 (30.6)112,795,359 (64.3)57,505,022 (73.7)540,278,250 (46.3)
Other
    Referred1,266,203 (1.0)2,836,052 (1.6)1,058,081 (4.6)170,351 (1.0)5,330,687 (1.5)
    Not referred6,458,490 (2.3)6,947,893 (2.2)2,299,805 (1.5)1,537,175 (2.5)17,243,363 (2.1)
    Overall7,724,693 (1.9)9,783,945 (2.0)3,357,886 (1.9)1,707,526 (2.2)22,574,050 (1.9)
Shared care
    Referred72,734,619 (56.0)83,164,843 (46.4)7,942,808 (37.4)3,697,267 (22.3)167,711,222 (48.0)
    Not referred78,080,308 (28.1)65,704,184 (21.4)33,472,995 (22.5)8,289,358 (14.0)186,378,057 (23.2)
    Overall150,814,927 (37.0)148,869,027 (30.7)41,415,803 (24.3)11,986,625 (15.8)354,089,279 (30.7)
Reappointments
    Referred96,390,830 (73.1)124,589,758 (68.4)13,434,294 (58.2)15,426,153 (91.4)250,997,151 (70.6)
    Not referred217,382,015 (76.3)226,893,374 (72.3)107,602,751 (70.7)56,909,990 (93.1)617,375,536 (75.1)
    Overall313,772,845 (75.3)351,483,132 (70.9)121,037,045 (69.0)72,336,143 (92.8)858,629,165 (73.6)
Overall
    Referred131,930,070 (100)182,266,362 (100)23,092,705 (100)16,886,186 (100)354,175,323 (100)
    Not referred284,802,759 (100)313,721,465 (100)152,255,986 (100)61,096,999 (100)811,877,209 (100)
    Overall416,732,829 (100)495,987,827 (100)175,348,691 (100)77,983,185 (100)1,166,052,532 (100)