Variations in activity and practice patterns: a French study for GPs.
Fiche publication
Date publication
septembre 2007
Auteurs
Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Pr BEJEAN Sophie
Tous les auteurs :
Bejean S, Peyron C, Urbinelli R
Lien Pubmed
Résumé
OBJECTIVES: To identify the different practice profiles of general practitioners (GPs) in order to test the hypothesis of heterogeneity in physician behaviour. DATA: For the year 2000, 4,660 GPs from two regions in France. Variables: volume and structure of the physicians' medical activity, income level, personal characteristics, socioeconomic and geographical environment, characteristics of their patients. METHODS: A cluster analysis to identify different practice profiles and a regression analysis to display the determinants of the physicians' activity. RESULTS: Four different homogeneous groups can be identified, each one associating a physician's level of activity to his socioeconomic status. The level and the intensity of medical activity depend on individual factors, patients' characteristics as well as the socioeconomic context. CONCLUSIONS: There is no uniformity in the way GPs practice medicine. An immediate consequence is that any cost-containment measure that is applied uniformly to all GPs inevitably results in different outcomes according to the physicians' category type.
Référence
Eur J Health Econ. 2007 Sep;8(3):225-36