Rural Health Research
Rural and Urban Physicians: Does the Content of Their Medicare Practices Differ
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19432233 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Laura‐Mae Baldwin (0000-0002-2236-1216, Roosevelt University, corresponding author), Roger A Rosenblatt, Ronald Schneeweiss, Denise M Lishner, L Gay Hart |
| Year | 1999 |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 240-251 |
| Publication date | 1999-03-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Rural Health (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0890-765X • E-ISSN: 1748-0361 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1748-0361.1999.tb00745.x |
| PMID | 10511761 |
| OpenAlex | W2136109052 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 17 |
Rural and urban areas have significant differences in the availability of medical technology, medical practice structures and patient populations. This study uses 1994 Medicare claims data to examine whether these differences are associated with variation in the content of practice between physicians practicing in rural and urban areas. This study compared the number of patients, outpatient visits, and inpatient visits per physician in the different specialties, diagnosis clusters, patient age and sex, and procedure frequency and type for board‐certified rural and urban physicians in 12 ambulatory medical specialties. Overall, 14.4 percent of physicians in the 12 specialties practiced exclusively in rural Washington, with great variation by specialty. Rural physicians were older and less likely to be female than urban physicians. Rural physicians saw larger numbers of elderly patients and had higher volumes of outpatient visits than their urban counterparts. For all specialty groups except general surgeons and obstetrician‐gynecologists, the diagnostic scope of practice was specialty‐specific and similar for rural and urban physicians. Rural general surgeons had more visits for gastrointestinal disorders, while rural obstetrician‐gynecologists had more visits out of their specialty domain (e.g., hypertension, diabetes) than their urban counterparts. The scope of procedures for rural and urban physicians in most specialties showed more similarities than differences. While the fund of knowledge and outpatient procedural training needed by most rural and urban practitioners to care for the elderly is similar, rural general surgeons and obstetrician‐gynecologists need training outside their traditional specialty areas to optimally care for their patients
Ambulatory care · Family medicine · Health care · Rural area · Rural health · Scope of practice · Specialty · Global Health Workforce Issues · Healthcare Policy and Management · Medicine · Primary Care and Health Outcomes
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Physician Gender Bias in Clinical Decisionmaking
Diagnosis Clusters
A Comparison of the Patients and Practices of Recent Graduates of Family Practice and General Internal Medicine Residency Programs
Preliminary Evidence on Retention Rates of Primary Care Physicians in Rural and Urban Areas
The Influence of Gender on Physician Practice Style
| Citations per year | 0.17 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2002 - 2006 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |