Are low and high utilization related to the way GPs manage their practices? An observational study

de Graaf-Ruizendaal, W. A.; van der Hoek, L.; de Bakker, D. H.

doi:10.1186/s12875-018-0732-7

BMC Primary Care

Table 6 Differences on practice organization characteristics between the 40 lowest and 40 highest scoring practices on the difference between mean actual utilization rate and the postcode-based estimate

From: Are low and high utilization related to the way GPs manage their practices? An observational study

	Total GP practices in sample (N = 232)		Practices with utilization lower than predicted N = 40		Practices with utilization higher than predicted N = 40		Results t-tests/pr-tests between low and high utilization practices
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	P-value
GP characteristics per practice
GPs per practice	2.32	1.50	1.73	0. 88	2.40	1.60	0.02 ^a
Female GPs per practice	1.09	1.05	0.60	0.60	1.28	1.13	0.00**
GPs younger than 40 years	0.47	0.73	0.20	0.41	0.53	0.72	0.02 ^a
GPs 40–55 years	1.17	1.10	0.98	1.00	1.13	0.94	0.49
GPs 56–65 years	0.63	0.83	0.50	0.60	0.63	0.87	0.46
GPs 65 years or older	0.05	0.22	0.05	0.22	0.13	0.34	0.24
Self-employed GPs per practice	1.84	1.29	1.38	0.81	1.68	1.00	0.14
GPs employed by GPs per practice	0.26	0.51	0.18	0.39	0.30	0.61	0.28
Locums per practice	0.17	0.43	0.18	0.39	0.25	0.44	0.42
Missing	0.05	–	–	–	0.17	–	–
FTE GP per practice	1.62	1.12	1.28	0.70	1.59	1.14	0.15
Practice characteristics
List size per practice	3671	2384	2767	909	3502	2233	0.06
Utilization rate per patient	4.05	0.75	3.18	0.35	5.21	0.63	0.00**
Solo practices	0.38	0.49	0.60	0.50	0.30	0.46	0.00**
Dual practices	0.39	0.49	0.30	0.46	0.58	0.50	0.01 ^a
Group practices	0.23	0.42	0.10	0.30	0.13	0.34	0.72
Urbanization	3.22	1.42	2.90	1.50	3.23	1.39	0.32
Practice organization measures
Medical service profile	2.99	1.50	2.75	1.43	3.35	1.55	0.08
Consultation profile	4.11	1.54	4.03	1.54	4.73	1.40	0.04 ^a
Accessibility	1.44	0.75	1.33	0.80	1.63	0.67	0.07
Disease management	4.18	3.25	3.75	2.89	5.18	3.74	0.06
Patient information material	3.32	1.27	3.30	1.27	3.53	1.20	0.42
Support staff per practice
Doctor’s assistant	0.92	0.27	0.90	0.30	0.95	0.22	0.40
Practice nurse somatic disorders	0.37	0.48	0.38	0.49	0.48	0.51	0.37
Practice nurse mental disorders	0.63	0.48	0.43	0.50	0.63	0.49	0.24
Pharmacist	0.04	0.20	0.03	0.16	0.00	0.00	0.31
Other medical providers	0.11	0.31	0.05	0.22	0.18	0.39	0.08
Other non-medical providers	0.23	0.42	0.25	0.44	0.20	0.41	0.39

^aThe score for low utilization practices is significantly different from high utilization practices; P < 0.05; **P < 0.01
Bold The numbers in bold are practice characteristics which differ significantly between low and high utilization practices

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