Association of Primary Care Visit Length With Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing

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Abstract
Time is a scarce and valuable resource in primary care, with the average visit lasting 18 minutes.1 By a recent estimate, primary care clinicians would require 27 hours per day to provide all guideline-recommended preventive, chronic disease, and acute care to a typical patient panel.2 While there is global variation in primary care visit length,3 recent growth in visit content (eg, diagnoses recorded and medications prescribed) has outpaced growth in visit length,4,5 suggesting that time available per health concern may be decreasing over time.6 In surveys, patients routinely report needing more time with their primary care physician,7,8 and visit length is one of the most prominent factors associated with patients’ satisfaction with their care.9,10 Physicians also want more time with their patients and frequently report feeling rushed during visits.11-13

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