Factors Relating to Patient Visit Time With a Physician. Medical Decision Making 32

This study sought to identify factors that increase or decrease patient time with a physician, determine which combinations of factors are associated with the shortest and longest visits to physicians, quantify how much phy-sicians contribute to variation in the time they spend with patients, and assess how well patient time with a physician can be predicted. Data were acquired from a modified replication of the 1997–1998 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, administered by the Kentucky Ambulatory Network to 56 primary care clini-cians at 24 practice sites in 2001 and 2002. A regression tree and a linear mixed model (LMM) were used to dis-cover multivariate associations between patient time with a physician and 22 potentially predictive factors. Patient time with a physician was related to the number of diagnoses, whether non-illness care was received, and whether the patient had been seen before by the physi-cian or someone at the practice. Approximately 38 % of the variation in patient time with a physician was accounted for by predictive factors in the tree; roughly 33 % was explained by predictive factors in the LMM, with another 12 % linked to physicians. Knowledge of patient characteristics and needs could be used to sched-ule office visits, potentially improving patient flow through a clinic and reducing waiting times. Key words: visit length, time with a physician, primary care, Nationa