Americans made an estimated 1.1 billion visits to physician offices and hospital outpatient and emergency departments in 2006, an average of four visits per person per year, according to a report released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The number of visits to physician offices and hospital outpatient and emergency departments increased by 26 percent from 1996 to 2006, the most recent year for which complete data was available. The rise in visits can be linked to the aging of the population, the report says.

Overall, about 119 million visits were made to U.S. emergency rooms in 2006, up from 90 million in 1996 -- a 32 percent increase.

Notably, the average waiting time for Americans to see a physician in the emergency rooms was now nearly 56 minutes, which was about 38 minutes a decade ago.

This increase for ER waiting time is due to supply and demand, said authors of the report. More and more people are turning to ERs. Meanwhile, the number of U.S. hospital emergency departments does not see any increase.

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. Pain relievers were the most common, accounting for 13.6 percent of all drugs prescribed.

(Xinhua News Agency August 7, 2008)