Here are eight key points from the report.
1. Primary care physicians are seeing significantly more Medicaid patients in Medicaid expansion states.
2. The return rate of Medicare patients to primary care physicians suggests the formation of new physician-patient relationships. In 2014, there was a 67 percent Medicaid patient return rate.
3. Commercially insured patients are paying slightly more out-of-pocket for primary care visits. In 2015, the average out-of-pocket cost for a primary visit for a commercially insured adult was $31.57, up from $27.98 in 2011.
4. In comparison to primary care costs, the patient out-of-pocket obligation for surgery is rising much faster.
5. Nearly 60 percent of uninsured patients pay more than $40 for a primary care visit, and 20 percent pay more than $100.
6. The average visit for an uninsured patient lasts 13.2 minutes, while an insured patient visit lasts an average of 14.5 minutes.
7. Primary care physicians were not overwhelmed with an influx of new patients in 2014. New patients accounted for approximately 17 percent of total volume, largely unchanged from previous years.
8. Primary care physician work RVUs per patient increased from 1.21 in 2011 to 1.28 in 2015. In 2011, 30 percent of primary care visits required high-complexity evaluation and management codes. In 2015, 33 percent of primary care visits required the same.
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