The Bright Futures guidelines for health supervision of infants, children, and adolescents recommend that children visit a physician six times during the first year, three times in the second year, and annually thereafter for preventive health care visits.¹ An annual preventive health care visit provides an opportunity to monitor a child’s growth and development, to assess his or her behavior, to provide appropriate immunizations, to discuss important issues regarding prevention of injury and violence, and nutrition, and to answer parents’ questions about their children’s health and care. Overall, 77.8 percent of children received a preventive care visit in the past year.

Children without health insurance are less likely to receive a preventive visit than those with either public or private health insurance. While 79.8 percent of children with health insurance (from any source) received a preventive visit, only 57.2 percent of uninsured children did so.

The use of preventive health care appears to vary somewhat by race and ethnicity as well. While 80.5 percent of Black children, 79.6 percent of multiracial children, and 79.2 percent of White children received a preventive visit in the past year, the rates were lower for children of other races (74.7 percent) and Hispanic children (71.4 percent).

1 Green M, Palfrey JS, eds. 2002 Bright Futures: Guidelines for Health Supervision of Infants, Children, and Adolescents (2nd ed. rev). Arlington, VA: National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health.