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Do Subspecialists Working Outside of Their Specialty Provide Less Efficient and Lower-Quality Care to Hospitalized Patients Than Do Primary Care Physicians?
Scott R. Weingarten, MD, MPH;
Lynne Lloyd, MBA;
Chiun-Fang Chiou, PhD;
Glenn D. Braunstein, MD
Arch Intern Med. 2002;162:527-532.
Background Studies show that subspecialists can provide better quality care than
primary care physicians when working within their subspecialty for patients
with some medical conditions. However, many subspecialists care for patients
outside of their chosen subspecialty. The present study compared the quality
of care provided by subspecialists practicing outside of their specialty,
general internists, and subspecialists practicing within their specialty.
Methods The severity-adjusted mortality rate and the severity-adjusted length
of stay were used as indexes of quality of care. Data from 5112 hospital admissions
(301 different physicians) for community-acquired pneumonia, acute myocardial
infarction, congestive heart failure, or upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage
at 6 hospitals in the greater Cleveland, Ohio, area were used in this study.
The data were severity adjusted with the CHOICE Severity of Illness System.
Results Subspecialists working outside of their subspecialty cared for 25% of
hospitalized patients. When comparing patients cared for by subspecialists
practicing outside of their subspecialty, severity-adjusted lengths of stay
were longer for patients with congestive heart failure (23% longer; 95% confidence
interval [CI], 15%-32%), upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage (22% longer; 95%
CI, 7%-39%), and community-acquired pneumonia (14% longer; 95% CI, 5%-24%)
than for patients cared for by subspecialists practicing within their subspecialty.
Patients also had a slightly higher hospital mortality rate when cared for
by subspecialists practicing outside of their specialty than by subspecialists
practicing within their subspecialty (mortality rate odds ratio, 1.46; P = .047). In addition, patients cared for by subspecialists
practicing outside of their subspecialty had longer lengths of stay, and prolongations
of stay were observed for patients with congestive heart failure (16% longer;
95% CI, 8%-26%), upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage (15% longer; 95% CI, 2%-30%),
and community-acquired pneumonia (18% longer; 95% CI, 9%-28%) than patients
cared for by general internists.
Conclusions Subspecialists commonly care for patients outside of their subspecialty,
despite the fact that their patients may have longer lengths of stay than
those cared for by subspecialists practicing within their specialty or by
general internists. In addition, such patients may have slightly higher mortality
rates than those cared for by subspecialists practicing within their subspecialty.
From the Department of Health Services Research (Zynx Health, Inc),
Cedars-Sinai Health System, Beverly Hills, Calif (Drs Weingarten and Chiou);
and the Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA
School of Medicine (Drs Weingarten and Braunstein). Ms Lloyd is an independent
consultant.
RELATED LETTER
Care Provided by Subspecialists Working Outside Their Specialty: The Importance of Hospitalist Training
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Arch Intern Med. 2002;162(14):1647.
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