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Thursday, August 07, 2008

More Americans Seek Medical Care and Most Walk Away with a Prescription

ATLANTA, Aug. 6 -- On average, each American seeks medical care at a doctor's office, a clinic, or a hospital emergency department about four times a year, according to data released by the CDC.
And that number is an increase of 26% over the decade from 1996 to 2006, the latest CDC/National Center for Health Statistics National Health Care Survey showed.
The increase outpaced the growth in population, which rose by 11% during the same decade, wrote Susan M. Schappert, M.A., of the National Center for Health Statistics, and colleagues.
The CDC said the observed increase in medical visits "can be linked to both the aging of the population, as older persons have higher visit rates than younger persons in general, and an increase in utilization by older persons."
The overall visit rate was not significantly different for white and black persons. /.../

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