Utilization and expenditures for ambulatory medical care by people hospitalized: United States, 1980

The National Medical Care Utilization and Expenditure Survey was conducted throughout 1980 to collect information on health, access to and use of medical services, associated charges and sources of payment, and health insurance coverage. The survey was based on a probability sample of about 6,600 households and 17,123 people representative of the civilian noninstitutionalized population of the United States. This report is one of a series of descriptive reports based on data from the National Medical Care Utilization and Expenditure Survey. It characterizes the population by hospital utilization and certain sociodemographic and health variables, and shows how hospitalization effects the use and cost of ambulatory medical care. The following are some of the highlights of the report. Almost everyone was covered by some form of health insurance at some time during 1980. Only 7.6 percent were not covered at all, and 10 percent had insurance only part of the year. The proportion not covered at all varied according to the number of times hospitalized, ranging from 8.2 percent for people not hospitalized during the year to 1.8 percent for people hospitalized three or more times. People with one or more hospital stays during 1980 had a physician visit rate greater than three times that for people not hospitalized. Similarly, the expenditures for ambulatory medical care for people experiencing hospitalizations was almost nine times that for people were not hospitalized during the year. The rate of physician visits is much larger immediately prior to hospital admission or immediately after discharge than it is at other times. About 40 percent of all physician visits during the year occurred within a month before admission and after discharge. within a month before admission and after discharge.