Table 3.

Odds Ratios and 95% Confidence Intervals from the Multivariate General Estimating Equation Models

Specialty	Independent Variable	Odds Ratio	95% CI
Cardiology	Acute myocardial infarction	11.71	4.63, 29.60
	Coronary artery disease	3.19	1.93, 5.28
	Increasing patient age	1.03	1.01, 1.04
	Increasing physician satisfaction	1.01	1.00, 1.03
	Increasing age of physician	0.98	0.96, 0.99
	Patient female gender	0.58	0.39, 0.86
	Thromboembolism and aneurysms	0.19	0.08, 0.44
Opthalmology	Visit for cataract, glaucoma, or other eye problems	9.79	6.39, 14.99
	Increasing patient age	1.03	1.02, 1.04
	Increasing physician satisfaction	1.02	1.01, 1.04
	Physician years out of medical school	0.98	0.97, 0.99
	Physician often referred to confirm diagnosis	0.59	0.42, 0.85
Pulmonary	Patient on cardiovascular medicine	2.34	1.11, 4.94
	Increasing perceived cost-effectiveness	1.02	1.00, 1.05
	Increasing physician satisfaction	0.97	0.95, 1.00
	COPD or asthma	0.22	0.10, 0.47
Orthopedic	Major joint trauma or fracture	7.76	4.58, 13.15
	Fractures	3.80	2.27, 6.38
	Nontraumatic musculoskeletal condition	2.15	1.52, 3.03
	Physician often referred to establish a diagnosis	1.65	1.04, 2.61
	Patient on a hormonal agent	1.57	1.07, 2.29
	Patient on an analgesic agent	0.63	0.41, 0.98
	Skin ulcers and other skin problems	0.49	0.31, 0.78
General surgery	Breast cancer	54.36	2.26, 1,307.80
	Hernia	16.82	8.54, 33.12
	Biliary or pancreatic disorders	4.56	1.47, 14.18
	Nonmalignant breast	3.02	1.86, 4.91
	Venous conditions	2.34	1.43, 3.82
	Abdominal pain symptoms	0.42	0.26, 0.68
	Skin ulcers and other skin problems	0.34	0.21, 0.56
	Physician often referred to have specific procedure performed	0.20	0.15, 0.26
	Other conditions	0.15	0.06, 0.40
	Physician female gender	0.65	0.42, 1.01