PMID- 22053988
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20120213
LR  - 20240318
IS  - 1472-6963 (Electronic)
IS  - 1472-6963 (Linking)
VI  - 11
DP  - 2011 Nov 4
TI  - Sociodemographic and geographic characteristics associated with patient visits to 
      osteopathic physicians for primary care.
PG  - 303
LID - 10.1186/1472-6963-11-303 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: Health care reform promises to dramatically increase the number of 
      Americans covered by health insurance. Osteopathic physicians (DOs) are 
      recognized for primary care, including a "hands-on" style with an emphasis on 
      patient-centered care. Thus, DOs may be well positioned to deliver primary care 
      in this emerging health care environment. METHODS: We used data from the National 
      Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (2002-2006) to study sociodemographic and 
      geographic characteristics associated with patient visits to DOs for primary 
      care. Descriptive analyses were initially performed to derive national population 
      estimates (NPEs) for overall patient visits, primary care patient visits, and 
      patient visits according to specialty status. Osteopathic and allopathic 
      physician (MD) patient visits were compared using cross-tabulations and multiple 
      logistic regression to compute odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals 
      (CIs) for DO patient visits. The latter analyses were also conducted separately 
      for each geographic characteristic to assess the potential for effect 
      modification based on these factors. RESULTS: Overall, 134,369 ambulatory medical 
      care visits were surveyed, representing 4.6 billion (NPE) +/- 220 million (SE) 
      patient visits when patient visit weights were applied. Osteopathic physicians 
      provided 336 million +/- 30 million (7%) of these patient visits. Osteopathic 
      physicians provided 217 million +/- 21 million (10%) patient visits for primary 
      care services; including 180 million +/- 17 million (12%) primary care visits for 
      adults (21 years of age or older) and 37 million +/- 5 million (5%) primary care 
      visits for minors. Osteopathic physicians were more likely than MDs to provide 
      primary care visits in family and general medicine (OR, 6.03; 95% CI, 4.67-7.78), 
      but were less likely to provide visits in internal medicine (OR, 0.37; 95% CI, 
      0.24-0.58) or pediatrics (OR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.11-0.40). Overall, patients in the 
      pediatric and geriatric ages, Blacks, Hispanics, and persons in the South and 
      West were less likely to utilize DOs, although there was some evidence of effect 
      modification according to United States Census region. CONCLUSIONS: Health care 
      reform provides unprecedented opportunities for DOs to reach historically 
      underserved populations and to overcome the "pediatric primary-care paradox."
FAU - Licciardone, John C
AU  - Licciardone JC
AD  - The Osteopathic Research Center, University of North Texas Health Science 
      Center-Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, 3500 Camp Bowie Boulevard, Fort 
      Worth, TX 76107, USA. john.licciardone@unthsc.edu
FAU - Singh, Karan P
AU  - Singh KP
LA  - eng
GR  - K24AT002422/AT/NCCIH NIH HHS/United States
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20111104
PL  - England
TA  - BMC Health Serv Res
JT  - BMC health services research
JID - 101088677
SB  - IM
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Adult
MH  - Age Factors
MH  - Aged
MH  - Ambulatory Care/*statistics & numerical data
MH  - Child
MH  - Ethnicity/*statistics & numerical data
MH  - Female
MH  - Health Care Reform
MH  - Health Care Surveys
MH  - Health Services Research
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Office Visits/*statistics & numerical data
MH  - Osteopathic Medicine/*statistics & numerical data
MH  - Primary Health Care/*statistics & numerical data
MH  - Residence Characteristics/*statistics & numerical data
MH  - United States
MH  - Young Adult
PMC - PMC3238348
EDAT- 2011/11/08 06:00
MHDA- 2012/02/14 06:00
PMCR- 2011/11/04
CRDT- 2011/11/08 06:00
PHST- 2010/10/13 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2011/11/04 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2011/11/08 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2011/11/08 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2012/02/14 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2011/11/04 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 1472-6963-11-303 [pii]
AID - 10.1186/1472-6963-11-303 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - BMC Health Serv Res. 2011 Nov 4;11:303. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-11-303.