Table.
Physician Willingness to Enroll in Hospice: Personal and Practice Characteristicsa
| Physician Characteristics | Total N (%) | Unadjusted Proportion Who Strongly Agree they would Enroll in Hospice if Terminally Ill with Cancer (%) | Adjusted Odds Ratio (95% CI) of Strongly Agreeing they would Enroll in Hospiceb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 4,368 (100) | 64.5 | |
| Age | |||
| ≤ 39 | 959 (22) | 65.4 | 1.00 |
| 40 – 49 | 1264 (29) | 65.5 | 1.08 (0.89, 1.31) |
| 50 – 54 | 767 (18) | 67.1 | 1.18 (0.95, 1.47) |
| 55 – 59 | 702 (16) | 65.4 | 1.20 (0.96, 1.50) |
| ≥ 60 | 676 (15) | 57.7 | 1.00 (0.79, 1.25) |
| Sex | |||
| Male | 3453 (80) | 61.9 | 1.00 |
| Female | 837 (20) | 76.1 | 1.80 (1.49, 2.18) |
| Specialty | |||
| Primary Care Physician | 1743 (41) | 69.5 | 1.00 |
| Surgery | 923 (22) | 56.6 | 0.65 (0.55, 0.78) |
| Medical oncology | 600 (14) | 70.3 | 0.93 (0.74, 1.17) |
| Radiation oncology | 257 (6) | 57.6 | 0.57 (0.42, 0.76) |
| Other specialty | 768 (18) | 61.2 | 0.75 (0.62, 0.90) |
| Percent of Patients in Managed Care | |||
| ≤ 50% | 2330 (58) | 60.8 | 1.00 |
| ≥ 51% | 1664 (42) | 69.8 | 1.30 (1.12, 1.51) |
| Number of Terminally-Ill Patients in the Last Year | |||
| ≤ 12 | 2308 (54) | 62.5 | 1.00 |
| ≥ 13 | 1998 (46) | 67.1 | 1.29 (1.12, 1.50) |
Abbreviations: HMO, health maintenance organization; CI, confidence interval.
Percentages include only reported, non-imputed values and may not sum to 100% due to rounding or missing values. Missing values were present for the following variables: sex (N=78), specialty (N=77), proportion of patients in managed care (N=374), and number of terminally-ill patients cared for in the past year (N=62). Adjusted analyses used imputed data.
Adjusting for all variables in the table, as well as type of practice. Board certification, US medical school graduate status, and level of teaching involvement were not associated in unadjusted analyses and were not included in the model