Skip to main content
. 2010 Jun 8;25(10):1057–1063. doi: 10.1007/s11606-010-1409-7

Table 3.

Association between Test Ordering and Covariates (Visits to Specialist Owners in Group Practices)

CBC Adjusted OR (95% CI)a Electrolytes Adjusted OR (95% CI)a HbA1c Adjusted OR (95% CI)a Cholesterol Adjusted OR (95% CI)a PSA Adjusted OR (95% CI)a
On-Site Lab
No ref ref ref ref ref
Yes 7.8 (4.8–12.7) 3.4 (1.9–6.3) 5.1 (1.8–14.9) 3.3 (1.8–6.0) 3.6 (1.8–7.1)
Age
Age <50 ref ref ref ref ref
Age ≥50 1.1 (0.9–1.5) 1.1 (0.8–1.5) 1.0 (0.5–2.0) 1.1 (0.8–1.4) 3.8 (1.9–7.6)a
Patient Sex
Female ref ref ref ref ref
Male 0.8 (0.6–1.0) 0.8 (0.6–1.1) 1.1 (0.6–1.9) 1.2 (0.9–1.5) 4.5 (3.1–6.6)
Patient Race
White ref ref ref ref ref
Black 1.4 (1.0–2.1) 1.1 (0.6–2.0) 1.6 (0.8–3.0) 0.8 (0.4–1.7) 0.8 (0.5–1.4)
Other 0.9 (0.5–1.5) 0.8 (0.4–1.9) 1.6 (0.7–3.4) 1.2 (0.7–2.2) 0.5 (0.2–1.4)
Patient Ethnicity
Hispanic ref ref ref ref ref
Non Hispanic 1.1 (0.5–2.3) 0.6 (0.3–1.3) 0.4 (0.2–1.1) 0.8 (0.5–1.5) 0.8 (0.4–1.2)
Patient Insurance Status
Private ref ref ref ref ref
Medicare 1.0 (0.8–1.2) 0.9 (0.7–1.3) 1.1 (0.5–2.2) 1,2 (0.9–1.6) 1.2 (0.9–1.6)
Medicaid 0.9 (0.6–1.2) 0.4 (0.2–1.3) 1.6 (0.6–4.0) 0.9 (0.5–1.9) 0.5 (0.3–1.1)
Other 0.8 (0.4–1.4) 0.5 (0.2–1.3) 0.9 (0.3–2.3) 0.7 (0.3–1.5) 0.7 (0.4–1.4)
Major Reason for Visit
Acute ref ref ref ref ref
Chronic 1.3 (1.0–1.8) 1.2 (0.8–1.9) 1.9 (0.9–4.1) 1.4 (0.8–2.5) 2.3 (1.5–3.4)
Preventative 0.6 (0.3–1.2) 0.4 (0.2–0.9) 0.6 (0.2–2.0) 1.0 (0.5–2.0) 2.5 (1.1–5.6)
Other 0.5 (0.3–0.7) 0.4 (0.2–0.8) 0.7 (0.2–2.7) 0.4 (0.2–0.8) 0.6 (0.4–1.1)
Patient Number of Chronic Conditions
0 ref ref ref ref ref
1–3 2.2 (1.5–3.2) 3.7 (1.8–7.5) 2.8 (1.1–6.7) 4.0 (2.5–6.5) 0.7 (0.5–0.9)
>3 2.4 (1.3–4.6) 6.9 (2.7–17.5) 5.8 (2.2–15.0) 5.6 (2.6–12.2) 0.6 (0.3–1.2)
Practice Location in an MSA
Yes ref ref ref ref ref
No 0.2 (0.1–0.4) 0.1 (0.0–0.6) 0.1 (0.0–0.6) 0.1 (0.0–0.3) 1.1 (0.5–2.4)
Practice Census Region
Northeast ref ref ref ref ref
Midwest 1.7 (0.8–3.6) 0.9 (0.4–2.2) 1.0 (0.1–7.5) 0.9 (0.4–2.4) 1.8 (0.6–5.1)
South 1.4 (0.7–2.9) 0.8 (0.4–1.7) 0.9 (0.3–3.1) 0.6 (0.3–1.4) 1.1 (0.4–2.8)
West 2.1 (1.0–4.0) 1.5 (0.6–3.9) 4.0 (1.3–12.6) 1.8 (0.8–3.9) 2.3 (0.7–8.0)
Practice EMRCapacity
Yes ref ref ref ref ref
Partial 1.8 (0.8–4.0) 2.9 (0.8–10.1) 3.3 (0.7–15.9) 1.9 (0.7–4.7) 1.2 (0.4–3.3)
No 1.2 (0.7–1.9) 1.7 (0.7–3.7) 1.8 (0.6–5.4) 1.2 (0.6–2.2) 1.0 (0.4–2.2)

aAdjusted for patient sex, age, race, ethnicity, number of chronic conditions, major reason for visit, geographic region, urban or rural location, and presence of an electronic medical record

Bold-faced type indicates p < 0.01