Table 2.
Physician Characteristics According to Specialty and Board Certification Status
| Family Practice | Internal Medicine | Cardiology | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noncertified | Certified | Noncertified | Certified | Noncertified | Certified Internist | Certified Cardiologist | |
| Total | 1,369 | 9,788 | 4,792 | 9,692 | 1,161 | 1,221 | 8,645 |
| Male (%) | 93.9 | 88.7* | 88.7 | 86.6* | 96 | 95.7 | 96.2 |
| Medical school location | |||||||
| U.S./Canada | 69.7 | 89.5* | 56.3 | 81.9* | 51 | 68.3 | 75.9* |
| OECD member, major industrialized country (%) | 5.0 | 1.6* | 7.5 | 2.1* | 8.8 | 5.9 | 2.8* |
| Other (%) | 25.3 | 8.9* | 36.3 | 16.0* | 40.2 | 25.8 | 21.4* |
| Employment type | |||||||
| Solo (%) | 54.4 | 27.9* | 43.9 | 28.3* | 50.2 | 45.5 | 18.8* |
| Partnership (%) | 9.8 | 10.8 | 8.0 | 8.5 | 8.8 | 7.6 | 7.7 |
| Group (%) | 22.4 | 41.0* | 24.4 | 39.9* | 25.7 | 32.6 | 46.6* |
| Medical school (%) | 0.5 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 4.0* |
| Other/missing (%) | 12.9 | 19.0* | 23.1 | 22.4 | 12.2 | 12.9 | 22.9* |
| Year in which MD degree was obtained | |||||||
| Before 1965 (%) | 40.3 | 9.7* | 21.5 | 8.4* | 49.8 | 46.5 | 9.7* |
| 1965 to 1974 (%) | 31.3 | 18.4* | 26.6 | 19.9* | 33.3 | 28.7 | 31.7* |
| 1975 to 1984 (%) | 24.5 | 49.5* | 39.8 | 48.2* | 15.8 | 20.4 | 48.3* |
| 1985 or later (%) | 4.0 | 22.4* | 12.2 | 23.6* | 1.2 | 4.3 | 10.3* |
| Estimated mean annual | 3.9 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 4.7 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 12.3* |
| Medicare AMI volume | |||||||
*
P<0.001 for comparison of board-certified versus nonboard-certified physicians within physician speciality.
AMI, acute myocardial infarction; OECD, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.