Table 12_4_1-1

2009 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports

The National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) is a comprehensive national overview of quality of health care in the United States. It is organized around four dimensions of quality of care: effectiveness, patient safety, timeliness, and patient centeredness.

Table 12_4_1.1
People with a usual source of care whose health provider usually asks about prescription medications and treatments from other doctors, United States, 2002 and 2006
		2006				2002
Population group		Total population (in thousands)^d	Percent with USC^e	Percent asked	SE	Total population (in thousands)^d	Percent with USC^e	Percent asked	SE
Total		299,267	80.9	79.0	0.5	288,182	81.2	75.1	0.6
Age	0–17	74,064	92.0	75.9	1.0	72,747	90.0	71.0	1.0
	18–44	111,036	66.7	81.4	0.7	111,219	69.2	77.5	0.8
	45–64	75,161	84.6	80.4	0.7	67,960	85.0	77.5	0.8
	65 and over	36,609	94.0	77.6	1.1	36,256	93.9	73.9	1.1
Gender	Male	146,942	76.8	79.3	0.6	140,802	77.4	75.1	0.7
Gender	Female	152,325	84.8	78.8	0.6	147,380	84.8	75.2	0.7
Race	White, single race	240,005	81.7	79.4	0.6	233,530	82.0	75.3	0.7
	Black, single race	37,024	78.9	78.2	1.2	35,504	79.0	77.5	1.3
	Asian, single race	13,060	71.8	74.2	2.7	11,567	73.0	67.5	2.7
	NHOPI, single race	1,226	83.4	DSU	DSU	884	83.2	DSU	DSU
	AI/AN, single race	2,597	81.9	82.2	4.4	2,583	78.4	71.0	5.6
	Multiple races	5,354	80.4	76.8	2.7	4,114	80.8	73.5	2.8
Ethnicity	Non-Hispanic, all races	254,106	83.2	78.7	0.6	248,517	83.4	74.6	0.7
	Non-Hispanic, White	197,070	84.8	79.1	0.7	195,463	84.9	74.6	0.7
	Non-Hispanic, Black	36,285	78.9	78.2	1.2	34,875	79.2	77.5	1.3
	Hispanic	45,161	68.0	81.0	1.1	39,665	67.2	79.3	1.1
Family income^a	Negative/poor	37,365	75.9	79.0	1.1	35,618	75.3	75.5	1.3
	Near poor/low	54,305	76.1	78.4	1.2	52,639	75.7	75.2	1.2
	Middle	93,404	79.9	78.7	0.9	91,063	81.6	72.9	1.0
	High	114,194	85.5	79.5	0.8	108,862	85.4	76.8	0.7
Education,^b age 18 and over	Less than high school	41,730	70.9	78.7	0.9	45,282	73.8	75.0	1.1
	High school graduate	68,955	76.7	78.8	0.9	69,829	77.8	76.0	0.9
	At least some college	111,734	79.9	81.6	0.6	97,855	80.7	78.1	0.8
Employment status, ages 18–64	Employed	149,970	73.4	80.5	0.6	143,280	74.8	77.3	0.7
Employment status, ages 18–64	Not employed	37,058	76.4	82.3	0.9	35,665	76.7	78.1	1.0
Health insurance, ages 0–64	Any private	183,794	84.0	79.4	0.7	183,519	84.0	75.3	0.7
	Public only	39,431	85.2	78.5	1.0	34,249	83.8	75.2	1.5
	Uninsured	37,037	48.1	79.5	1.4	33,061	49.7	76.0	1.4
Health insurance, age 65 and over	Medicare only	11,199	92.6	76.4	1.8	10,202	93.3	72.0	2.1
	Medicare and private	20,988	95.3	78.0	1.4	20,648	94.8	75.0	1.2
	Medicare and other public	4,058	93.1	78.6	2.3	3,788	94.2	75.3	2.5
Residence location^c	Metropolitan	250,064	80.2	79.0	0.6	241,330	80.7	75.2	0.7
	Large central metro	89,315	76.4	78.6	0.8	87,683	77.7	75.6	0.9
	Large fringe metro	73,465	82.2	78.3	1.2	69,802	81.9	72.8	1.0
	Medium metro	61,459	83.3	80.0	1.2	58,570	82.8	76.3	1.6
	Small metro	25,826	80.2	80.2	1.8	25,275	82.4	77.4	1.9
	Nonmetropolitan	49,203	84.5	79.0	1.5	46,852	83.9	75.1	1.4
	Micropolitan	32,688	83.1	78.2	1.6	31,339	83.3	76.3	1.5
	Noncore	16,515	87.4	80.4	3.6	15,513	85.1	72.6	2.4
Language spoken most often at home	English	259,734	83.2	79.1	0.6	252,871	83.3	74.9	0.7
Language spoken most often at home	Other	35,611	64.2	78.5	1.5	31,079	64.0	78.0	1.5
Perceived health status	Excellent/very good/good	266,362	80.2	78.7	0.6	255,683	80.5	74.9	0.6
Perceived health status	Fair/poor	31,046	87.3	81.2	0.8	30,511	87.6	77.2	1.1
Activity limitations,^c age 18 and over	Basic activities	29,281	91.1	79.2	1.1	27,554	89.8	74.5	1.2
	Complex activities	17,224	91.5	81.0	1.1	16,398	89.7	75.9	1.3
	Neither basic nor complex activities	186,471	74.9	80.4	0.6	179,243	76.4	77.2	0.7

^a Negative/poor refers to household incomes below the Federal poverty line; near poor/low, the poverty line to just below 200 percent of the poverty line; middle, 200 percent to just below 400 percent of the poverty line; and high, 400 percent of the poverty line and over.

^b Less than high school refers to fewer than 12 years of education; high school graduate, 12 years of education; and at least some college, more than 12 years of education.

^c For more information, see the MEPS entry in Appendix A, Data Sources.

^d Numbers may not add to total due to missing values or rounding.

^e Percent with usual source of care, excluding missing values.

DSU - Data do not meet the criteria for statistical reliability, data quality, or confidentiality.

Key: AI/AN: American Indian or Alaska Native; NHOPI: Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander; SE: standard error.

Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Center for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

Current as of March 2010

Internet Citation: Table 12_4_1-1: 2009 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports. March 2010. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/nhqrdr/nhqrdr09/12_patientsafety/T12_4_1-1.html