Preventable hospitalizations and access to health care

Article Abstract:

People who live in areas where they have poor access to health care may have high rates of avoidable hospitalizations for chronic disorders. Researchers analyzed census and hospital discharge data, and conducted surveys of physicians and community residents in 41 ZIP code areas. They identified five chronic disorders for which hospitalization is preventable: asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. The median rate of preventable hospitalization for chronic disorders ranged from 13 per 10,000 to 59 per 10,000. According to the resident survey, the average community access to health care ranged from 3.7 to 4.3 on a scale of zero to five. The areas with the highest rates of preventable hospitalization tended to have the lowest rates of health care accessibility. This inverse relationship was maintained even when statistics were adjusted to account for differences in income, demographics, the tendency to seek care, and the tendency of physicians to refer patients to hospitals.

Care and treatment, Chronic diseases, Hospitalization, Hospital care

---

Graduate medical education and physician practice location: implications for physician workforce policy

Article Abstract:

About half of the physicians nationwide appear to remain in the state where they received their graduate medical education. Researchers drew data from two national physician databases, and analyzed a sample of 97,947 physicians. Between 1980 and 1992, 51% percent of physicians practiced in the state where they received their graduate education, although the rates ranged from 71% in California to 6% in Nevada. The states which trained the largest number of physicians, New York and Massachusetts, had average retention rates. California and Texas, which train far fewer physicians, had high retention rates. General practice physicians were more likely than specialists to stay in the state where they received their graduate medical education. National policies should be formulated to distribute physicians more evenly between states.

Physicians, Medical professions, Medical education

---

Primary care physicians' experience of financial incentives in managed-care systems

Article Abstract:

Many primary care physicians are not happy with some of the financial incentives they receive from their managed care organizations. A survey of 766 primary care physicians in California found that 38% received some type of bonus. Fifty-seven percent said they were being rewarded for limiting referrals and 17% of these physicians believed this compromised patient care. Three-quarters were pressured to see more patients and 24% of them believed this compromised patient care.

Compensation and benefits, Employee incentives, Surveys, Managed care plans (Medical care), Physicians (General practice), General practitioners

Similar abstracts:

• Abstracts: Intraperitoneal cisplatin and paclitaxel in ovarian cancer. Interferon-gamma expression is an independent prognostic factor in ovarian cancer
• Abstracts: Managed care and capitation in California: how do physicians at financial risk control their own utilization? Quality-of-life outcomes in men treated for localized prostate cancer
• Abstracts: Budget plan: much less for health care. Financial squeeze could hit trauma care, hospitals; GOP says states can cope
• Abstracts: Documentation and evaluation of cognitive impairment in elderly primary care patients. Glass houses and the glory of the climb
• Abstracts: Social Marxism, class conflict and health care. Giddens and late modernity: analysing 20th century life. Goffman, the individual, institutions and stigmatisation

This website is not affiliated with document authors or copyright owners. This page is provided for informational purposes only. Unintentional errors are possible.