Are Patients’ Ratings of Their Physicians Related to Health Outcomes?

Article Figures & Data

Table 1.

Characteristics of Patients and Physicians in Study and Comparison Practices

Characteristics	Enrolled Physicians	Not Enrolled Physicians
MCO = managed care organization.
* Socioeconomic variables derived from patient Zip code linked to 1990 US census data. Information is based on 1996 to 1999 claims data.
Patients
Number	121,806	483,094
Age, y, mean (SD)	41.0 (11.0)	41.1 (11.2)
Sex, % female	53.9	52.7
Income, US$, median (SD)*	37,830 (10,683)	36,874 (10,160)
High school graduate, %, mean (SD)*	64.8 (7.8)	63.8 (7.9)
Any visit to a physician, %	83.1	82.5
Percentage of patients referred	25.7	25.6
Years enrolled in the MCO, mean (SD)	3.07 (1.12)	3.07 (1.12)
Annual adherence indicators, %
Women with Papanicolaou tests	52.5	51.8
Women >40 y with mammograms	46.2	46.2
Diabetic with eye examinations	47.0	46.4
Diabetic with glycohemoglobin tests	67.0	66.1
Diabetic with cholesterol tests	54.7	54.5
Per-patient costs in 1996 dollars; mean, median (SD)
Diagnostic testing	189,19.6 (521)	196, 23.6 (513)
Inpatient	254, 0 (4,702)	264, 0 (4,038)
Total costs	938, 228 (5,493)	950, 228 (4,914)
Physicians
Number	100	594
Specialty, % family practice	47	24
Patients in panel, No. (SD)	1,218 (758)	813 (776)

Table 2.

Characteristics of Patients Responding to Survey Instrument

Characteristic	Patients Responding No. (%)	Mean (SD)
Note: Survey data were available for patients of only 96 physicians.
MCS-12 = Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-12 mental component summary score; PCS-12 = Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-12 physical component summary score; HCCQ = Health Care Climate Questionnaire; PCAS = Primary Care Assessment Survey.
Total	4,746 (100)
Sex
Missing	41 (0.9)
Female	2,955 (62.3)
Male	1,750 (36.9)
Patient race/ethnicity
Missing	34 (0.7)
African American	499 (10.5)
Hispanic	109 (2.3)
Other	110 (2.3)
White	3,994 (84.2)
Patient education
Missing	21 (0.4)
<12 y	337 (7.1)
12th grade	1,370 (28.9)
1–3 y of college	1,490 (31.4)
4 y of college	828 (17.4)
Graduate school	700 (14.7)
Length of patient-doctor relationship
Missing	12 (0.3)
<1 y	360 (7.6)
1–3 y	1,035 (21.8)
3–5 y	814 (17.2)
>5 y	2,525 (53.2)
Age, y	4,680 (98.6)	44.9 (12.1)
Number of conditions	4,746 (100)	2.3 (1.5)
MCS-12 score	4,458 (93.9)	48.8 (10.5)
PCS-12 score	4,458 (93.9)	46.0 (11.1)
Somatization scale	4,724 (99.5)	7.6 (6.5)
HCCQ scpre	4,733 (99.7)	18.0 (3.1)
PCAS—knowledge	4,734 (99.7)	15.1 (4.3)
PCAS—trust	4,744 (100)	34.1 (4.0)
Patient satisfaction scale	4,729 (99.6)	5.2 (0.8)
Health status change	4,720 (99.5)	0.0 (0.92)