Ambulatory Care Visits

Data from the 2010 NHCS surveys on ambulatory care indicate that more than 100 million ambulatory care visits are associated with a diagnosis of AORC, or nearly 10% of all visits that year. An AORC is listed as the presenting (first) diagnosis for between 2.6% and 5.7% of all visits listed, depending on the health care site visited. Physicians’ offices accounted for 84% of all ambulatory visits, greatly exceeding emergency department or outpatient sites. Among the 10 AORC subgroups, most of the 100 million visits were associated with unspecified joint disorders and other specified rheumatic conditions; osteoarthritis was the most common specific condition. (Reference Table 4.2 PDF [1] CSV [2])