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Physician Supply (physician + supply)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	100%

Selected Abstracts

Rural Osteopathic Family Physician Supply: Past and Present

THE JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 3 2000
Dixie Tooke-Rawlins D.O, F.A.C.O.F.P.
No abstract is available for this article. [source]

Physician supply, supplier-induced demand and competition: empirical evidence from a single-payer system,

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2006
Sudha Xirasagar
Abstract We examined the earnings of 8106 office-based (FTE) physicians in 2002 in Taiwan for evidence of supplier-induced demand (SID). We hypothesize that SID, operating in the form of mutual cross-specialty referral, will cause earnings to increase with total physician density (all specialties taken together), but simultaneously, decrease with increasing competition within specialties. We used multiple regression analyses controlling for high-user population, physician demographics and practice type. The evidence supports our hypotheses. Increasing total physician density (all specialties) is positively associated with earnings. Concurrently, within specialties, increased competition is associated with reduced earnings. The medical appropriateness of increasing health care utilization with increasing physician supply cannot be directly determined from the data. However, evidence of a steady earnings increase with increasing total physician density, which precludes a saturation point (of appropriate care levels) at some optimum physician density, substantiates SID in the office-based practice market. Empirically, our data suggest that the average market effect of physicians on one another is synergic when all specialties are considered together, but competitive within each specialty. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Urban-Rural Flows of Physicians

THE JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 4 2007
Thomas C. Ricketts PhD
ABSTRACT:,Context:Physician supply is anticipated to fall short of national requirements over the next 20 years. Rural areas are likely to lose relatively more physicians. Policy makers must know how to anticipate what changes in distribution are likely to happen to better target policies. Purpose: To determine whether there was a significant flow of physicians from urban to rural areas in recent years when the overall supply of physicians has been considered in balance with needs. Methods: Individual records from merged AMA Physician Masterfiles for 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, and 2003 were used to track movements from urban to rural and rural to urban counties. Individual physician locations were tracked over 5-year intervals during the period 1981 to 2001, with an additional assessment for movements in 2001-2003. Findings: Approximately 25% of physicians moved across county boundaries in any given 5-year period but the relative distribution of urban-rural supply remained relatively stable. One third of all physicians remained in the same urban or rural practice location for most of their professional careers. There was a small net movement of physicians from urban to rural areas from 1981 to 2003. Conclusions: The data show a net flow from urban to rural places, suggesting a geographic diffusion of physicians in response to economic forces. However, the small gain in rural areas may also be explained by programs that are intended to counter normal market pressures for urban concentrations of professionals. It is likely that in the face of an overall shortage, rural areas will lose physician supply relative to population. [source]

Health Care Markets, the Safety Net, and Utilization of Care among the Uninsured

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 1p1 2007
Carole Roan Gresenz
Objective. To quantify the relationship between utilization of care among the uninsured and the structure of the local health care market and safety net. Data Sources/Study Setting. Nationally representative data from the 1996 to 2000 waves of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) linked to data from multiple secondary sources. Study Design. We separately analyze outpatient care utilization and whether an individual incurred any medical expenditure among uninsured adults living in urban and rural areas. Safety net measures include distances between each individual and the nearest safety net providers as well as a measure of capacity based on local government and hospital health expenditures. Other covariates include the managed care presence in the local health care market, the percentage of individuals who are uninsured in the area, and local primary care physician supply. We simulate utilization using standardized predictions. Principal Findings. Distances between the rural uninsured and safety net providers are significantly associated with utilization. In urban areas, we find that the percentage of individuals in the area who are uninsured, the pervasiveness and competitiveness of managed care, the primary care physician supply, and safety net capacity have a significant relationship with health care utilization. Conclusions. Facilitating transport to safety net providers and increasing the number of such providers are likely to increase utilization of care among the rural uninsured. Our findings for urban areas suggest that the uninsured living in areas where managed care presence is substantial, and especially where managed care competition is limited, could be a target for policies to improve the ability of the uninsured to obtain care. Policies oriented toward enhancing funding for the safety net and increasing the capacity of safety net providers are likely to be important to ensuring the urban uninsured are able to obtain health care. [source]

Physician supply, supplier-induced demand and competition: empirical evidence from a single-payer system,

Are There Enough Doctors in My Rural Community?

THE JOURNAL OF RURAL HEALTH, Issue 2 2009
Perceptions of the Local Physician Supply
ABSTRACT:,Purpose: To assess whether people in the rural Southeast perceive that there is an adequate number of physicians in their communities, assess how these perceptions relate to county physician-to-population (PtP) ratios, and identify other factors associated with the perception that there are enough local physicians. Methods: Adults (n = 4,879) from 150 rural counties in eight southeastern states responded through a telephone survey. Agreement or disagreement with the statement "I feel there are enough doctors in my community" constituted the principal outcome. Weighted chi-square analysis and a generalized estimating equation (GEE) assessed the strength of association between perceptions of an adequate physician workforce and county PtP ratios, individual characteristics, attitudes about and experiences with medical care, and other county characteristics. Findings: Forty-nine percent of respondents agreed there were enough doctors in their communities, 46% did not agree, and 5% were undecided. Respondents of counties with higher PtP ratios were only somewhat more likely to agree that there were enough local doctors (Pearson's correlation coefficient = 0.09, P < .001). Multivariate analyses revealed that perceiving that there were enough local physicians was more common among men, those 65 and older, whites, and those with lower regard for physician care. Perceptions that the local physician supply was inadequate were more common for those who had longer travel distances, problems with affordability, and little confidence in their physicians. Perceptions of physician shortages were more common in counties with higher poverty rates. Conclusions: County PtP ratios only partially account for rural perceptions that there are or are not enough local physicians. Perceptions of an adequate local physician workforce are also related to how much people value physicians' care and whether they face other barriers to care. [source]