The Doctor Is in: 744 Million Served

Americans made almost 744 million visits to the doctor in 1996, the most recent year for which statistics are available.

Here are a few more facts and figures about those visits:

* Average number of physician visits per person: 3.4.

* Most frequent principal reason for visit: general examination, 54.7 million visits.

* Most frequent physician specialty used: general and family practice, more than 186 million visits.

* Most frequent principal diagnosis: essential hypertension (or primary hypertension, the most common form), 27.7 million visits.

* Most frequent source of payment: private/commercial insurance, about 21% of visits.

* Drug most frequently mentioned: amoxicillin, 15.9 million.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics