Evidence map›Paper›PMID 15069219›Full record

ArticleQuality & safety in health care2004

Learning from malpractice claims about negligent, adverse events in primary care in the United States.

R L Phillips, L A Bartholomew, S M Dovey, G E Fryer, T J Miyoshi, L A Green

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Quality & safety in health care, 2004. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 68 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
68citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

68 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  3. Electronic Trigger-Based Intervention to Reduce Delays in Diagnostic Evaluation for Cancer: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2015
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  12. Diagnostic delays in infectious diseases.Diagnosis (Berlin, Germany) · 2022
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8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

R L PhillipsThe Robert Graham Center: Policy Studies in Family Practice and Primary Care, Washington, DC 20036, USA. bphillips@aafp.org
L A Bartholomew
S M Dovey
G E Fryer
T J Miyoshi
L A Green

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe epidemiology, risks, and outcomes of errors in primary care are poorly understood. Malpractice claims brought for negligent adverse events offer a useful insight into errors in primary care.

methodsPhysician Insurers Association of America malpractice claims data (1985-2000) were analyzed for proportions of negligent claims by primary care specialty, setting, severity, health condition, and attributed cause. We also calculated risks of a claim for condition-specific negligent events relative to the prevalence of those conditions in primary care.

resultsOf 49345 primary care claims, 26126 (53%) were peer reviewed and 5921 (23%) were assessed as negligent; 68% of claims were for negligent events in outpatient settings. No single condition accounted for more than 5% of all negligent claims, but the underlying causes were more clustered with "diagnosis error" making up one third of claims. The ratios of condition-specific negligent event claims relative to the frequency of those conditions in primary care revealed a significantly disproportionate risk for a number of conditions (for example, appendicitis was 25 times more likely to generate a claim for negligence than breast cancer).

conclusionsClaims data identify conditions and processes where primary health care in the United States is prone to go awry. The burden of severe outcomes and death from malpractice claims made against primary care physicians was greater in primary care outpatient settings than in hospitals. Although these data enhance information about error related negligent events in primary care, particularly when combined with other primary care data, there are many operating limitations.

Indexed as

MalpracticePrimary Health CareHealth Services ResearchHumansInsurance Claim ReviewMedical ErrorsPeer Review, Health CareQuality of Health CareUnited States

Identifiers

PMID15069219
PMCPMC1743812

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.