The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) is a national survey designed to meet the need for objective, reliable information about the provision and use of ambulatory medical care services in the United States. Findings are based on a sample of visits to non-federally employed office-based physicians who are primarily engaged in direct patient care. Physicians in the specialties (including designated sub-specialties) of anesthesiology, pathology, and radiology are excluded from the survey. The survey was conducted annually from 1973 to 1981, again in 1985, and annually since 1989.
Data collection from the physician, rather than from the patient, provides an analytic base that expands information on ambulatory care collected through other NCHS surveys. Data about the physician and their practice characteristics are collected during a survey induction interview.
For survey years 1973 to 1991, there are two data files: one for patient visit data and a second for drug mention data. The second file is limited to those visits with mention of medication therapy. For the 1991 data, it is possible to link information on the drug file with information on the patient visit file. Beginning with the 1992 survey year through 2011, one main data file was produced annually that contains both patient visit and drug information.

The purpose of the National CLAS Physician Survey was to understand the provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate services among office-based physicians. The National CLAS Physician Survey was a supplement to the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), which is a national probability sample survey of visits to office-based physicians. NAMCS is a component of the National Health Care Surveys that measured health care utilization across a variety of health care providers’ settings. NAMCS and the National CLAS Physician Survey were conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The National CLAS Physician Survey public use file includes data from office-based physicians. No patient level data were collected. This documentation describes the public use micro-data file produced from data collected in the National CLAS Physician Survey.

The purpose of the National CLAS Physician Survey was to understand the provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate services among office-based physicians. The National CLAS Physician Survey was a supplement to the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), which is a national probability sample survey of visits to office-based physicians. NAMCS is a component of the National Health Care Surveys that measured health care utilization across a variety of health care providers’ settings. NAMCS and the National CLAS Physician Survey were conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The National CLAS Physician Survey public use file includes data from office-based physicians. No patient level data were collected. This documentation describes the public use micro-data file produced from data collected in the National CLAS Physician Survey.

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) Health Center Component, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), collects annual data on visits to health centers to describe patterns of utilization and provision of ambulatory care delivery in the United States. Health centers are local clinics that are community-based and provide comprehensive health care services to populations that are often vulnerable and underserved. Health centers are either federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), which receive federal funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), or FQHC look-alikes, which meet HRSA requirements but do not receive HRSA funding.

This visualization depicts preliminary, biannual counts and rates of health center visits from January 2022-June 2023 by medical diagnosis chapters, stratified by selected patient characteristics. This visualization also depicts measures related to maternal health care at health centers to help expand the availability of data related to maternal health and maternal morbidity.

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) Health Center Component, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), collects annual data on visits to health centers to describe patterns of utilization and provision of ambulatory care delivery in the United States. Health centers are local clinics that are community-based and provide comprehensive health care services to populations that are often vulnerable and underserved. Health centers are either federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), which receive federal funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), or FQHC look-alikes, which meet HRSA requirements but do not receive HRSA funding.

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) is a national survey designed to meet the need for objective, reliable information about the provision and use of ambulatory medical care services in the United States. Findings are based on a sample of visits to non-federally employed office-based physicians who are primarily engaged in direct patient care. Physicians in the specialties (including designated sub-specialties) of anesthesiology, pathology, and radiology are excluded from the survey. The survey was conducted annually from 1973 to 1981, again in 1985, and annually since 1989.
Data collection from the physician, rather than from the patient, provides an analytic base that expands information on ambulatory care collected through other NCHS surveys. Data about the physician and their practice characteristics are collected during a survey induction interview.
For survey years 1973 to 1991, there are two data files: one for patient visit data and a second for drug mention data. The second file is limited to those visits with mention of medication therapy. For the 1991 data, it is possible to link information on the drug file with information on the patient visit file. Beginning with the 1992 survey year through 2011, one main data file was produced annually that contains both patient visit and drug information.

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), collects data from physician offices to describe practice characteristics and patterns of ambulatory care delivery in the United States. After the COVID-19 pandemic began, NCHS added questions to the 2020 and 2021 NAMCS Physician Induction Interview to evaluate physicians’ experiences related to the pandemic. Specifically, physicians in office-based settings were asked about: shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE); experiences with COVID-19 testing; providers in their office who tested positive for COVID-19; turning away COVID-19 patients; and telemedicine or telehealth technology use at their office. Measures related to these topic areas are further described and displayed in data dashboards here: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/namcs.htm.

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS) is designed to meet the need for objective, reliable information about the provision and use of ambulatory medical care services in the United States. NAMCS began in 1973 as a national probability sample survey of visits to nonfederally employed office-based physicians. NCHS conducted the survey annually through 1981, again in 1985, and annually through 2021 (collection of visit data from physicians was stopped during 2020–2021 due to the burden placed on respondents by the COVID-19 pandemic). In 2006, a separate sample of Community Health Centers (CHCs) was added to the survey; the CHC component samples visits to both physicians and advanced practice providers (nurse practitioners, PAs [physician assistants and physician associates], and certified nurse midwives). Starting in 2012, in addition to the traditional NAMCS file, a separate data file for CHCs including physicians and advanced practice providers has been released.

In 2021, the former CHC sample of NAMCS was redesigned and launched as the NAMCS Health Center (HC) Component, collecting visit data from HCs using electronic health records, or EHR, systems of the participating health centers. The NAMCS Health Center Component contains critical data about health centers and the care they provide.