Table 4.

Percentage of Male and Female Primary Care Physicians Who Rated Factors of Major Importance in Choosing a Specialist

	Unadjusted Percent				Adjusted Percent* (95% CI)
Factor	No.	Male	Female	PValue	Female	PValue
Specialist characteristics
Medical skill	545	83.6	87.2	.23	90 (83–94)	.09
Board certification	549	30.2	37.1	.09	36 (27–47)	.24
Practice characteristics
Appointment timeliness	549	57.0	53.9	.47	51 (41–61)	.26
Insurance coverage	550	43.6	55.0	<.01	60 (50–70)	<.01
Hospital affiliation	551	13.9	13.4	.85	16 (9–26)	.59
Primary care physician-specialist Interaction
Primary care physician previous experience with specialist	552	59.7	58.8	.84	62 (51–71)	.73
Specialist returns patient to primary care physician	550	59.0	44.2	<.01	46 (36–56)	.01
Quality of communication	552	52.9	52.2	.87	48 (38–58)	.31
Primary care physician relationship with specialist	552	35.1	36.5	.74	35 (26–45)	.95
Attitudes of colleagues toward the specialist	553	12.4	16.3	.19	15 (9–24)	.45
Patient-specialist interaction
Likelihood of good patient-physician rapport	553	52.5	50.3	.61	54 (44–63)	.82
Patient preference for particular specialist	553	42.1	39.8	.59	39 (30–49)	.52
Patient convenience	551	25.9	21.9	.28	19 (13–28)	.11
Office location	551	10.1	8.9	.63	8 (4–14)	.33

CI = confidence interval.

* Adjusted for race, age, US vs international medical graduate status, board certification, practice setting, region, medical specialty.