New Data for Researchers

New NCHS Report on Office-Based Physicians and Their Medical Practices

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) released a new report titled “Characteristics of Office-Based Physicians and Their Medical Practices: United States, 2005–2006.” The report provides descriptive statistics about office-based physicians and their medical practices in 2005 and 2006, and trends in physician practice characteristics between 2001 and 2002 and between 2005 and 2006. The report also presents estimates obtained for the first time in 2006, including employment of mid-level providers and onsite performance of electrocardiogram and laboratory tests. Highlighted trends include a 22 percent increase in the percentage of office-based physicians who were female between 2001 and 2002 and 2005 and 2006. In addition, a 16 percent increase was observed in the percentage of physicians not accepting new Medicaid patients between 2001 and 2002 and 2005 and 2006, and a 23 percent increase in the percentage of physicians not accepting new charity cases. The report may be accessed at: www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/series/sr_13/sr13_166.pdf.

The data upon which this report is based are available to the public as part of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS). NAMCS collects data from a national probability sample of office-based physicians. Data are collected about the physicians, their patients, and the services they deliver. The sample excludes federally employed physicians, those who specialize in anesthesiology, radiology, or pathology, and physicians who do not see patients in an office. NAMCS public use data files are available for the years 1973 to 1981, 1985, and 1989 to 2005 at: www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/ahcd/ahcd1.htm#Micro-data.

NAMCS is part of a larger group of surveys known collectively as the National Health Care Surveys. Each survey collects data on health care providers and provider organizations, the patients they serve, and the services delivered. For information on surveys of long-term care, hospital care, and ambulatory surgery, visit www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhcs.htm.

 
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