Adjusted Odds Ratios for Likelihood of Medicare Outpatient Visits to
Physicians in Practices with IT to Support Specific Patient Care Functions
in 2001
Access Treatment Guidelines
Exchange Clinical Data with Other Physicians
Access Patient Notes
Generate Preventive Care Reminders
Electronic Prescribing
PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS
Health Status1
Healthiest Third2
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
Middle Third
0.86***
0.97
1.02
1.05
1.01
Sickest Third
0.90*
0.93
0.98
1.06
1.03
Age
<65
0.99
1.01
1.17*
0.86**
1.06
65-742
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
75-84
1.01
0.98
0.99
1.01
1.08
85+
0.91
1.00
0.91*
0.97
1.08
Location of Residence3
Urban2
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
Rural
1.18
1.02
1.46***
1.30*
1.08
Income3
Wealthiest Quartile2
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
3rd Quartile
1.00
0.99
1.12
0.97
1.02
2nd Quartile
1.10
1.10
1.14
0.99
0.96
Poorest Quartile
1.03
0.89
1.01
0.89
0.92
Race
White2
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
Black
0.91
0.97
1.07
0.90
1.06
Other
0.94
1.08
1.13
1.24
1.12
PHYSICIAN CHARACTERISTICS
Practice Type
Solo/Two Physicians
0.54*
0.19***
0.25***
1.07
0.55**
Small Group (<10)
0.52**
0.24***
0.33***
0.97
0.68
Medium Group (10 to 49)
0.36***
0.31***
0.34***
0.63
0.54
Large Group (50+)2
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
Office Owned by Hospital
0.50**
0.32***
0.27***
0.65
0.55
Hospital Staff
1.23
1.39
1.54
1.02
1.10
Medical School
0.76
1.39
1.54
1.02
1.10
Staff/Group HMO
1.03
0.80
1.50
2.29*
1.73
Other
0.60*
0.37***
0.56*
1.03
0.53*
Specialty Category
Primary Care
0.74**
0.82
0.86
1.36**
1.63*
Surgical Specialty
0.60***
0.82
1.11
1.44**
0.87
Medical Specialty2
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
Physician Age
Under 35
1.30
1.03
0.94
1.00
1.12
35-542
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
55+
0.77*
0.87
0.72**
1.08
0.64*
1 Patient health status as measured by the Klabunde index
of relative comorbidity. For details see endnote 2.
2 Reference group.
3 Patient zip code of residence was used to determine urban/rural location
and neighborhood income. Urban refers to metropolitan areas defined by the
Office of Management and Budget. Income data are from the U.S. Bureau of
the Census.
Comparison with reference group is statistically significant at ***p<.001,
**p<.01, *p<.05.
Source: Linked data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
2001 5 Percent Carrier File and 2001 CTS Physician Survey