Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32565462›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2020

Collaborative practice trends in US physician office visits: an analysis of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), 2007-2016.

Shahpar Najmabadi, Trenton J Honda, Roderick S Hooker

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
1.9field-weighted citation impact, top 11% of its field
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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Shahpar NajmabadiDepartment of Family and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA s.najmabadi@utah.edu.ORCID 0000-0003-1247-8848
Trenton J HondaDepartment of Family and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA.
Roderick S HookerIndependent Health Policy Consultant, Ridgefield, Washington, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8416-8673
University of Utah · USIndependent Sector · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivePractice arrangements in physician offices were characterised by examining the share of visits that involved physician assistants (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs). The hypothesis was that collaborative practice (ie, care delivered by a dyad of physician-PA and/or physician-NP) was increasing.

designTemporal ecological study.

settingNon-federal physician offices.

participantsPatient visits to a physician, PA or NP, spanning years 2007-2016.

methodsA stratified random sample of visits to office-based physicians was pooled through the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey public use linkage file. Among 317 674 visits to physicians, PAs or NPs, solo and collaborative practices were described and compared over two timespans of 2007-2011 and 2012-2016. Weighted patient visits were aggregated in bivariate analyses to achieve nationally representative estimates. Survey statistics assessed patient demographic characteristics, reason for visit and visit specialty by provider type.

resultsWithin years 2007-2011 and 2012-2016, there were 4.4 billion and 4.1 billion physician office visits (POVs), respectively. Comparing the two timespans, the rate of POVs with a solo PA (0.43% vs 0.21%) or NP (0.31% vs 0.17%) decreased. Rate of POVs with a collaborative physician-PA increased non-significantly. Rate of POVs with a collaborative physician-NP (0.49% vs 0.97%, p<0.01) increased. Overall, collaborative practice, in particular physician-NP, has increased in recent years (p<0.01), while visits handled by a solo PA or NP decreased (p<0.01). In models adjusted for patient age and chronic conditions, the odds of collaborative practice in years 2012-2016 compared with years 2007-2011 was 35% higher (95% CI 1.01 to 1.79). Furthermore, in 2012-2016, NPs provided more independent primary care, and PAs provided more independent care in a non-primary care medical specialty. Preventive visits declined among all providers.

conclusionsIn non-federal physician offices, collaborative care with a physician-PA or physician-NP appears to be a growing part of office-based healthcare delivery.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAgedAge DistributionFemaleHealth SurveysHumansMaleMiddle AgedNurse PractitionersOffice VisitsPhysician AssistantsPractice Management, MedicalPractice Patterns, Physicians'Racial GroupsSex Distributionhealth policyhealth services administration & managementorganisation of health servicesprimary care

Identifiers

PMID32565462
PMCPMC7311045
OpenAlexW3036955411

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
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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.