Evidence map›Paper›PMID 18474975›Full record

ArticleHealth affairs (Project Hope)

Discretionary decision making by primary care physicians and the cost of U.S. Health care.

Brenda Sirovich, Patricia M Gallagher, David E Wennberg, Elliott S Fisher

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Health affairs (Project Hope). The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 91 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
91citing papers in PubMed
–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

91 citing papers in PubMed.

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  17. Observational
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31 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

4 authors.

Brenda SirovichOutcomes Group, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, White River Junction, Vermont, USA. Brenda.Sirovich@dartmouth.edu
Patricia M Gallagher
David E Wennberg
Elliott S Fisher

Funding

UNDERSTANDING AND IMPROVING EPISODE-BASED HOSPITAL CAREP01AG019783 · NIA · DARTMOUTH COLLEGE · PI Leila S. Agha · 2001 to 2026
$52.9M
New Cardiac Surgery Programs: Patients, Outcomes, AccessR01HL080437 · NHLBI · MAINEHEALTH · PI LUCAS, FRANCES LEE · 2006 to 2008
$1.0M
NHLBI NIH HHS R01 HL080437NHLBI NIH HHS R01HL080437NIA NIH HHS P01 AG019783NIA NIH HHS P01 AG19783
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Efforts to improve the quality and costs of U.S. health care have focused largely on fostering physician adherence to evidence-based guidelines, ignoring the role of clinical judgment in more discretionary settings. We surveyed primary care physicians to assess variability in discretionary decision making and evaluate its relationship to the cost of health care. Physicians in high-spending regions see patients back more frequently and are more likely to recommend screening tests of unproven benefit and discretionary interventions compared with physicians in low-spending regions; however, both appear equally likely to recommend guideline-supported interventions. Greater attention should be paid to the local factors that influence physicians' clinical judgment in discretionary settings.

Indexed as

Decision MakingHealth Care CostsHealth Care SurveysHealth ServicesHumansHypertensionPhysicians, FamilyPractice Patterns, Physicians'Primary Health CareUnited States

Identifiers

PMID18474975
PMCPMC2438037

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.