Physician referral rates: Style without much substance?

Medical Care

Volumn 38, Issue 8, 2000, Pages 836-846

  Franks, Peter ^a,c   Mooney, Cathleen ^b   Sorbero, Melony ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER   (United States)

^c Family Medicine Center Rochester   (United States)

Author keywords

Health care costs; Outcome assessment; Physician's practice patterns; Primary health care; Referral and consultation

Indexed keywords

ADULT; AGED; ARTICLE; CLINICAL PRACTICE; CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY; DIAGNOSIS RELATED GROUP; ECONOMICS; FACTUAL DATABASE; FEMALE; GENERAL PRACTITIONER; HEALTH CARE COST; HEALTH STATUS; HUMAN; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; OUTCOME ASSESSMENT; PATIENT REFERRAL; PATIENT SATISFACTION; RANDOMIZATION; STATISTICS; UNITED STATES; URBAN POPULATION;

ADULT; AGED; CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDIES; DATABASES, FACTUAL; DIAGNOSIS-RELATED GROUPS; FEMALE; HEALTH CARE COSTS; HEALTH STATUS; HUMANS; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; NEW YORK; OUTCOME ASSESSMENT (HEALTH CARE); PATIENT SATISFACTION; PHYSICIAN'S PRACTICE PATTERNS; PHYSICIANS, FAMILY; RANDOM ALLOCATION; REFERRAL AND CONSULTATION; URBAN POPULATION;

EID: 0034243186     PISSN: 00257079     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1097/00005650-200008000-00007     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. Myerson AR. Helping health insurers say no. New York Times March 20, 1995: D1.
2. Tabenkin H, Gross R, Brammli S, Shvartzman P. Patients' views of direct access to specialists: An Israeli experience. JAMA 1998;279:1943-1948.
3. Kassirer JP. Access to specialty care. N Engl J Med 1994;331:1151-1153.
4. Stein JH, Uretz EF, Parrillo JE, Barron JT. Cost and appropriateness of radionuclide exercise stress testing by cardiologists and non-cardiologists. Am J Cardiol 1996;77:139-142.
5. Nyman JA, Manning WG, Samuels S, Morrey BF. Can specialists reduce costs? The case of referrals to orthopaedic surgeons. Clin Orthop 1998;May:257-267.
6. Pearson SD, Moreno R, Trnka Y. Informal consultations provided to general internists by the gastroenterology department of an HMO. J Gen Intern Med 1998;13:435-438.
7. Roland MO, Green CA, Roberts SO. Should general practitioners refer more patients to hospital? J R Soc Med 1991;84:403-404.
8. Franks P, Zwanziger J, Mooney C, Sorbero M. Variations in primary care physician referral rates. Health Serv Res 1999;34:323-329.
9. Salem-Schatz S, Moore G, Rucker M, Pearson SD. The case for case-mix adjustment in practice profiling: When good apples look bad. JAMA 1994;272:871-874.
10. Roland MO, Bartholomew J, Morrell DC, McDermott A, Paul E. Understanding hospital referral rates: A user's guide. BMJ 1990;301:98-102.
11. Miller ME, Hui SL, Tierney WM, McDonald CJ. Estimating physician costliness: An empirical Bayes approach. Med Care 1993;31:YS16-YS28.
12. Littell RC, Milliken GA, Stroup WW, Wolfinger RD. SAS system for mixed models. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc, 1996.
13. Weiner JP, Starfield BH, Steinwachs DM, Mumford LM. Development and application of a population-oriented measure of ambulatory care case-mix. Med Care 1991;29:452-472.
14. Weissman JS, Gatsonis C, Epstein AM. Rates of avoidable hospitalization by insurance status in Massachusetts and Maryland. JAMA 1992;268:2388-2394.
15. Parchman ML, Culler S. Primary care physicians and avoidable hospitalizations. J Fam Pract 1994;39:123-128.
16. Bindman AB, Grumbach K, Osmond D, Komaromy M, Vranizan K, Lurie N, et al. Preventable hospitalizations and access to health care. JAMA 1995;274:305-311.
17. Ware JE Jr, Kosinski M, Keller SD. A 12-item short-form health survey: Construction of scales and preliminary tests of reliability and validity. Med Care 1996;34:220-233.
18. Ware JE, Snyder MK, Wright WR, Davies AR. Defining and measuring patient satisfaction with medical care. Eval Program Plann 1984;6:247-263.
19. Katz JN, Chang LC, Sangha O, Fossel AH, Bates DW. Can comorbidity be measured by questionnaire rather than medical record review? Med Care 1996;34:73-84.
20. Hall JA, Milburn MA, Epstein AM. A causal model of health status and satisfaction with medical care. Med Care 1993;31:84-94.
21. Glenn JK, Lawler FH, Hoerl MS. Physician referrals in a competitive environment: An estimate of the economic impact of a referral. JAMA 1987;258:1920-1923.
22. Schneeweiss R, Ellsbury K, Hart LG, Geyman JP. The economic impact and multiplier effect of a family practice clinic on an academic medical center. JAMA 1989;262:370-375.
23. Welch HG, Black WC, Fisher ES. Case-mix adjustment: Making bad apples look good. JAMA 1995;273:772-773.
24. Greenfield S, Nelson EC, Zubkoff M, Manning W, Rogers W, Kravitz RL, et al. Variations in resource utilization among medical specialists and systems of care: Results from the Medical Outcomes Study. JAMA 1992;267:1624-1630.
25. Franks P, Nutting PA, Clancy CM. Health care reform, primary care, and the need for research. JAMA 1993;270:1449-1453.
26. Franks P, Fiscella K. Primary care physicians and specialists as personal physicians: Health care expenditures and mortality experience. J Fam Pract 1998;47:105-109.
27. Knottnerus JA, Joosten J, Daams J. Comparing the quality of referrals of general practitioners with high and average referral rates: An independent panel review. Br J Gen Pract 1990;40:178-181.
28. Reynolds GA, Chitnis JG, Roland MO. General practitioner outpatient referrals: Do good doctors refer more patients to hospital? BMJ 1991;302:1250-1252.
29. Fertig A, Roland M, King H, Moore T. Understanding variation in rates of referral among general practitioners: Are inappropriate referrals important and would guidelines help to reduce rates? BMJ 1993;307:1467-1470.
30. Zeiger RS, Heller S, Mellon MH, Wald J, Falkoff R, Schatz M. Facilitated referral to asthma specialist reduces relapses in asthma emergency room visits. J Allergy Clin Immunol 1991;87:1160-1168.
31. Clark RA, Rietschel RL. The cost of initiating appropriate therapy for skin diseases: A comparison of dermatologists and family physicians. J Am Acad Dermatol 1983;9:787-796.
32. Turner BJ, McKee L, Fanning T, Markison LE. AIDS specialist versus generalist ambulatory care for advanced HIV infection and impact on hospital use. Med Care 1994;32:902-916.
33. Jollis JG, DeLong ER, Peterson ED, Muhlbaier LH, Fortin DF, Califf RM, et al. Outcome of acute myocardial infarction according to the specialty of the admitting physician. N Engl J Med 1996;335:1880-1887.
34. Solomon DH, Bates DW, Panush RS, Katz JN. Costs, outcomes, and patient satisfaction by provider type for patients with rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions: A critical review of the literature and proposed methodologic standards. Ann Intern Med 1997;127:52-60.
35. Yelin EH, Such CL, Criswell LA, Epstein WV. Outcomes for persons with rheumatoid arthritis with a rheumatologist versus a non-rheumatologist as the main physician for this condition. Med Care 1998;36:513-522.
36. Ayanian JZ, Guadagnoli E, McNeil BJ, Cleary PD. Treatment and outcomes of acute myocardial infarction among patients of cardiologists and generalist physicians. Arch Intern Med 1997;157:2570-2576.
37. Greenfield S, Rogers W, Mangotich M, Carney MF, Tarlov AR. Outcomes of patients with hypertension and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus treated by different systems and specialties: Results from the Medical Outcomes Study. JAMA 1995;274:1436-1444.
38. Moore AT, Roland MO. How much variation in referral rates among general practitioners is due to chance? BMJ 1989;298:500-502.
39. Franks P, Clancy CM. Referrals of adult patients from primary care: Demographic disparities and their relationship to HMO insurance. J Fam Pract 1997;45:47-53.
40. Blustein J, Hanson K, Shea S. Preventable hospitalizations and socioeconomic status. Health Aff (Millwood) 1998;17:177-189.
41. von Korff M, Barlow W, Cherkin D, Deyo RA. Effects of practice style in managing back pain. Ann Intern Med 1994;121:187-195.
42. Komaromy M, Lurie N, Osmond D, Vranizan K, Keane D, Bindman AB. Physician practice style and rates of hospitalization for chronic medical conditions. Med Care 1996;34:594-609.
43. Bertakis KD, Callahan EJ, Helms LJ, Azari R, Robbins JA, Miller J. Physician practice styles and patient outcomes: Differences between family practice and general internal medicine. Med Care 1998;36:879-891.
44. Bertakis KD, Azari R, Callahan EJ, Helms LJ, Robbins JA. The impact of physician practice style on medical charges. J Fam Pract 1999;48:31-36.
45. Kerr VA, Hays RD, Mitchinson A, Lee M, Siu AL. The influence of gatekeeping and utilization review on patient satisfaction. J Gen Intern Med 1999;14:287-296.
46. Grumbach K, Selby JV, Damberg C, Bindman AB, Quesenberry C Jr, Truman A, et al. Resolving the gatekeeper conundrum: What patients value in primary care and referrals to specialists. JAMA 1999;282:261-266.
47. Shortell SM, Gillies RM, Anderson DA, Erickson KM, Mitchell JB. Remaking health care in America: Building organized delivery systems. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass, 1996.
48. Kuo D, Gifford DR, Stein MD. Curbside consultation practices and attitudes among primary care physicians and medical subspecialists. JAMA 1998;280:905-909.
49. Keating NL, Zaslavsky AM, Ayanian JZ. Physicians' experiences and beliefs regarding informal consultation. JAMA 1998;280:900-904.
50. Pearson SD. Principles of generalist-specialist relationships. J Gen Intern Med 1999;14:S13-S20.