Table 2.

Counts of Cancer Specialists Identified in Each Data Source and Effect of Combining UPIN Registry and AMA Masterfile Data to Medicare Claims on Number of Physicians Identified

				Medicare Claims and UPIN		Medicare Claims and AMA		All Sources Combined (Claims+UPIN+AMA)
	Medicare Claims	UPIN Registry	AMA Masterfile
Cancer Specialty	Count	Count	Count	Count	% Increase	Count	% Increase	Count	% Increase
Any cancer specialty	11,721	15,076	16,368	15,597	36.1	18,175	55.1	19,753	68.5
Hematology/oncology	7,726	9,865	11,281	10,452	35.3	12,214	58.1	13,151	70.2
Surgical oncology	506	936	689	1,003	98.2	1,049	107.3	1,450	186.6
Radiation oncology	3,218	3,894	3,840	4,182	30.0	4,471	38.9	4,827	50.0
Gynecologic oncology	432	699	650	744	72.2	864	100.0	1,047	142.4
Musculoskeletal oncology	n/a	n/a	65	0		65		65

Notes: Physicians can be counted in more than one category, and thus the sum of individual categories exceeds overall count of identified cancer specialists.

% Increase reflects percentage of specialists identified by combining data sources over use of claims alone.

Hematology/oncology refers to the following medical specialties: hematology, hematology–oncology, or medical oncology.

n/a denotes that specialty information is not available in data source.

Source: UPIN Registry, AMA Masterfile, Medicare Carrier claims 1992–2003.

UPIN, Unique Physician Identifier Number; AMA, American Medical Association.