title: Physician social networks and variation in prostate cancer treatment in three cities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether physician social networks are associated with variation in treatment for men with localized prostate cancer.
  
  
  METHODS
  2004-2005 Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results-Medicare data from three cities.
  
  
  METHODS
  We identified the physicians who care for patients with prostate cancer and created physician networks for each city based on shared patients. Subgroups of urologists were defined as physicians with dense connections with one another via shared patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Subgroups varied widely in their unadjusted rates of prostatectomy and the racial/ethnic and socioeconomic composition of their patients. There was an association between urologist subgroup and receipt of prostatectomy. In city A, four subgroups had significantly lower odds of prostatectomy compared with the subgroup with the highest rates of prostatectomy after adjusting for patient clinical and sociodemographic characteristics. Similarly, in cities B and C, subgroups had significantly lower odds of prostatectomy compared with the baseline.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Using claims data to identify physician networks may provide an insight into the observed variation in treatment patterns for men with prostate cancer.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Craig Evan
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Pollack
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Weissman
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bekelman
authors.forename: Kaijun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Katrina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Armstrong
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006801:Humans; D007345:Insurance Claim Review / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011468:Prostatectomy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018426:SEER Program / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D060756:Social Networking; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D014572:Urology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
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