A comparison of morbidity and mortality for family physicians' and internists' admissions.
The quality of medical care delivered by physicians of different specialties has been the subject of debate for some time. Studies have suffered from a variety of flaws. This study used the MedisGroups comparative database to compare outcome measures in hospitalized patients aged 65 years and older treated either by the family physicians or internists as attending physicians. Using the 10 most common diagnostic related groups for internal medicine, 10,353 admissions to internists were compared with 5,473 admissions to family physicians. Patients admitted by family physicians had a significantly higher admission illness severity and were significantly older. There was no significant difference in morbidity and mortality. The lower average charges for patients admitted to family physicians were statistically significant.
McGann
K P
KP
Department of Family and Community Medicine, Bowman Gray School of Medicine of Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27103.
Bowman
M A
MA
D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003625:Data Collection; D005194:Family Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005249:Fees and Charges; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009017:Morbidity; D009026:Mortality; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology