More than 1 billion healthcare visits

ATLANTA, Aug. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. patients made some 1.1 billion visits to physician offices and hospitals in 2006 -- an average of four visits per person per year, researchers said.

The statistics, released by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, come from various components of CDC's National Center for Health Statistics National Health Care Survey and are featured in a series of new National Health Statistics Reports.

Some of the findings include:

--The number of visits to physician offices and hospital outpatient and emergency departments increased by 26 percent from 1996 to 2006, faster than the growth of the U.S. population, which rose by 11 percent -- mostly likely because the population is aging.

--In 2006, seven out of 10 visits had at least one medication provided, prescribed, or continued, for a total of 2.6 billion medications overall.

--The emergency department served as the route of admission to hospital inpatient services for roughly 50 percent of non-obstetric hospital patients in 2006, up from 36 percent in 1996.

--Patients with Medicaid use the emergency department more frequently than patients with private insurance -- 82 per 100 persons for Medicaid vs. 21 per 100 for private insurance.