Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36734605›Full record

ArticleHealth services research2023

Physician patient sharing relationships within insurance plan networks.

John A Graves, Dennis Lee, Lena Leszinsky, Leonce Nshuti, Sayeh Nikpay, Michael Richards, Melinda B Buntin, Daniel Polsky

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Health services research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing 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

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Characterizing Physician Referral Networks with Ricci Curvature.Pediatric and lifespan data science : First International Conference, IPLDSC 2024, Anaheim, CA, USA, May 23-24, 2024, Revised Selected Papers. International Pediatric and Lifespan Data Science Conference (1st : 2024 : Anaheim, Calif.) · 2025
    Article
  2. 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

8 authors.

John A GravesDepartment of Health Policy, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8954-8202
Dennis LeeDepartment of Health Policy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Lena LeszinskyDepartment of Health Policy, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Leonce NshutiVanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Sayeh NikpayDivision of Health Policy and Management, University of Minnesota, School of Public Health, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-0334-0743
Michael RichardsDepartment of Economics, Baylor University Hankamer Business School, Waco, Texas, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-1743-908X
Melinda B BuntinDepartment of Health Policy, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Peabody School of Education, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
Daniel PolskyBloomberg School of Public, Carey Business School, Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Funding

Implications of Provider Network Design for Access, Affordability and Competition in Health InsuranceR01HS025976 · AHRQ · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI GRAVES, JOHN A. · 2018 to 2021
$1.4M
AHRQ HHS R01 HS025976
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo quantify shared patient relationships between primary care physicians (PCPs) and cardiologists and oncologists and the degree to which those relationships were captured within insurance networks. DATA SOURCES: Secondary analysis of Vericred data on physician networks, CareSet data on physicians' shared Medicare patients, and insurance plan attributes from Health Insurance Compare. Data validation exercises used data from Physician Compare and IQVIA. STUDY

designCross-sectional study of the PCP-to-specialist in-network shared patient percentage (primary outcome). We also categorized networks by insurance market segment (Medicare Advantage [MA], Medicaid managed care, small-group or individually purchased), insurance plan type, and network breadth. DATA EXTRACTION: We analyzed data on 219,982 PCPs, 29,400 cardiologists, and 22,745 oncologists who, in 2021, accepted MA (n = 941 networks), Medicaid managed care (n = 293), and individually-purchased (n = 332) and small-group (n = 501) plans. PRINCIPAL

findingsNetworks captured, on average, 64.6% of PCP-cardiology shared patient ties, and 61.8% of PCP-oncologist ties. Less than half of in-network ties (44.5% and 38.9%, respectively) were among physicians with a common organizational affiliation. After adjustment for network breadth, we found no evidence of differences in the shared patient percentage across insurance market segments or networks of different types (p-value >0.05 for all comparisons). An exception was among national versus local and regional networks, where we found that national plans captured fewer shared patient ties, particularly among the narrowest networks (58.4% for national networksvs. 64.7% for local and regional networks for PCP-cardiology).

conclusionsGiven recent trends toward narrower networks, our findings underscore the importance of incorporating additional and nuanced measures of network composition to aid plan selection (for patients) and to guide regulatory oversight.

Indexed as

Medicare Part CPhysiciansAgedCross-Sectional StudiesHumansInsurance, HealthPhysician-Patient RelationsUnited Stateshealth policyinsuranceinsurance benefitsmanaged care programsprovider networks

Identifiers

PMID36734605
PMCPMC10480085

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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.