Impact of physician's assistants on patient visits in ambulatory care practices.
The addition of a physician's assistant to an ambulatory care practice increases the practice's productivity. Practices using physician's assistants (medexes) had a 12% increase in the number of patient visits during the first year of training and 1 3/4 years later had an average increase of 37%. The medex by himself provided care to 28% of the patients and, in company with the physician, to another 10%. No consistent changes across practices were noted in patient waiting times or time physicians spend with patients.
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010823:Physician Assistants; D011364:Professional Practice; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013997:Time Factors