Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of providers who performed ophthalmic surgery in the 2017–2018 Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data
| Provider characteristics | All providers (N=10 346) | Retina (N=1224) | Oculoplastics (N=609) | Cornea (N=338) | Glaucoma (N=378) | Neuro/peds* (N=71) | Comprehensive (N=7726) | P value† |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Years in practice | <0.001 | |||||||
| <10 years | 2912 (28.1%) | 473 (38.6%) | 193 (31.7%) | 129 (38.2%) | 125 (33.1%) | 19 (26.8%) | 1973 (25.5%) | |
| 10–20 years | 2831 (27.4%) | 345 (28.2%) | 180 (29.6%) | 85 (25.1%) | 108 (28.6%) | 19 (26.8%) | 2094 (27.1%) | |
| 20–30 years | 2931 (28.3%) | 316 (25.8%) | 158 (25.9%) | 81 (24.0%) | 107 (28.3%) | 25 (35.2%) | 2244 (29.0%) | |
| >30 years | 1672 (16.2%) | 90 (7.4%) | 78 (12.8%) | 43 (12.7%) | 38 (10.1%) | 8 (11.3%) | 1415 (18.3%) | |
| Gender | <0.001 | |||||||
| Female | 2147 (20.8%) | 108 (8.8%) | 124 (20.4%) | 51 (15.1%) | 84 (22.2%) | 18 (25.4%) | 1762 (22.8%) | |
| Male | 8199 (79.2%) | 1116 (91.2%) | 485 (79.6%) | 287 (84.9%) | 294 (77.8%) | 53 (74.6%) | 5964 (77.2%) | |
| Region | <0.001 | |||||||
| Northeast | 2192 (21.2%) | 185 (15.1%) | 103 (16.9%) | 52 (15.4%) | 63 (16.7%) | 9 (12.7%) | 1780 (23.0%) | |
| South | 3687 (35.6%) | 477 (39.0%) | 238 (39.1%) | 156 (46.2%) | 154 (40.7%) | 29 (40.8%) | 2633 (34.1%) | |
| Midwest | 2234 (21.6%) | 282 (23.0%) | 125 (20.5%) | 74 (21.9%) | 78 (20.6%) | 14 (19.7%) | 1661 (21.5%) | |
| West | 2233 (21.6%) | 280 (22.9%) | 143 (23.5%) | 56 (16.6%) | 83 (22.0%) | 19 (26.8%) | 1652 (21.4%) | |
| Rurality | <0.001 | |||||||
| Metro‡ | 9533 (92.1%) | 1186 (96.9%) | 580 (95.2%) | 329 (97.3%) | 362 (95.8%) | 71 (100.0%) | 7005 (90.7%) | |
| Non-metro | 813 (7.9%) | 38 (3.1%) | 29 (4.8%) | 9 (2.7%) | 16 (4.2%) | 0 (0.0%) | 721 (9.3%) | |
| Hospital affiliation | <0.001 | |||||||
| No | 4448 (43.0%) | 366 (29.9%) | 158 (25.9%) | 97 (28.7%) | 161 (42.6%) | 35 (49.3%) | 3631 (47.0%) | |
| Yes | 5898 (57.0%) | 858 (70.1%) | 451 (74.1%) | 241 (71.3%) | 217 (57.4%) | 36 (50.7%) | 4095 (53.0%) | |
| Core domain surgeries | ||||||||
| Cataract extractions | 8363 (80.8%) | 73 (6.0%) | 128 (21.0%) | 322 (95.3%) | 333 (88.1%) | 7 (9.9%) | 7500 (97.1%) | <0.001 |
| Conjunctival procedures | 568 (5.5%) | 56 (4.6%) | 102 (16.7%) | 93 (27.5%) | 85 (22.5%) | 1 (1.4%) | 231 (3.0%) | <0.001 |
| Eyelid laceration repairs | 315 (3.0%) | 0 (0.0%) | 282 (46.3%) | 0 (0.0%) | 1 (0.3%) | 0 (0.0%) | 32 (0.4%) | <0.001 |
| Chalazion excisions | 270 (2.6%) | 1 (0.1%) | 103 (16.9%) | 4 (1.2%) | 2 (0.5%) | 0 (0.0%) | 160 (2.1%) | <0.001 |
| Ptosis repairs/blepharoplasties | 1148 (11.1%) | 2 (0.2%) | 578 (94.9%) | 5 (1.5%) | 5 (1.3%) | 2 (2.8%) | 556 (7.2%) | <0.001 |
*
Neuro-ophthalmology/paediatrics.
†
Pearson’s χ2 test.
‡
Metropolitan.