Use of standardized patients to assess between-physician variations in resource utilization
Article Abstract:
Using standardized patients appears to be an effective way to detect variations in resource utilization by physicians. A standardized patient is a person trained to pretend to be a patient. They are taught how to give a medical history and list of symptoms. Four standardized patients were used to simulate osteoarthritis of the hip and made 312 visits to 112 university-affiliated family physicians, family medicine residents and community-based family practitioners. This resulted in reliable estimates of total visit costs and wide variations were seen.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1997
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Primary care physician compensation method in medical groups: does it influence the use and cost of health services for enrollees in managed care organizations?
Article Abstract:
The way physicians are compensated for their services appears to have no effect on the use and cost of health services in managed care plans. In some plans, physicians are paid a salary and in others, physicians are paid on the basis of the services they provide. Researchers examined data on health services use and cost for 865 physicians in 60 medical groups covering 200,931 patients. There was no relation between the type of physician compensation and cost and use of health care services.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1998
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