Table 2.
Association between a physician’s medical school US News & World Report (USNWR) ranking and patient outcomes
| USNWR ranking | 30 day mortality | 30 day readmission | Part B spending | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adjusted mortality (95% CI) (%) | Adjusted risk difference (95% CI) (%) | P for trend | Adjusted readmission (95% CI) (%) | Adjusted risk difference (95% CI) (%) | P for trend | Adjusted spending (95% CI) ($) | Adjusted difference (95% CI) ($) | P for trend | |||
| Primary care: | |||||||||||
| 1-10 | 10.7 (10.3 to 11.0) | Reference | 0.67 | 15.7 (15.3 to 16.0) | Reference | 0.005 | 1029 (1014 to 1045) | Reference | <0.001 | ||
| 11-20 | 10.7 (10.3 to 11.0) | 0.005 (−0.5 to 0.5) | 16.0 (15.6 to 16.3) | 0.3 (−0.2 to 0.8) | 1062 (1045 to 1079) | 33 (11 to 55) | |||||
| 21-30 | 10.7 (10.3 to 11.0) | 0.004 (−0.5 to 0.5) | 15.8 (15.4 to 16.2) | 0.2 (−0.3 to 0.7) | 1043 (1025 to 1060) | 13 (−10 to 36) | |||||
| 31-40 | 10.7 (10.3 to 11.1) | 0.07 (−0.5 to 0.6) | 15.5 (15.1 to 15.9) | −0.2 (−0.7 to 0.3) | 1054 (1037 to 1071) | 25 (2 to 48) | |||||
| 41-50 | 10.7 (10.5 to 11.0) | 0.08 (−0.3 to 0.5) | 16.1 (15.9 to 16.4) | 0.5 (0.1 to 0.9) | 1053 (1042 to 1064) | 24 (5 to 42) | |||||
| ≥50 | 10.6 (10.5 to 10.7) | −0.04 (−0.4 to 0.3) | 16.1 (16.0 to 16.2) | 0.4 (0.1 to 0.8) | 1066 (1061 to 1070) | 36 (20 to 52) | |||||
| Research: | |||||||||||
| 1-10 | 10.9 (10.5 to 11.3) | Reference | 0.99 | 16.0 (15.6 to 16.5) | Reference | 0.27 | 1050 (1028 to 1071) | Reference | <0.001 | ||
| 11-20 | 10.4 (10.1 to 10.6) | −0.6 (−1.1 to −0.1) | 15.9 (15.6 to 16.3) | −0.1 (−0.6 to 0.5) | 1044 (1030 to 1058) | −6 (−31 to 19) | |||||
| 21-30 | 10.7 (10.4 to 11.0) | −0.2 (−0.7 to 0.3) | 15.7 (15.4 to 16.0) | −0.3 (−0.8 to 0.2) | 1037 (1022 to 1053) | −13 (−39 to 13) | |||||
| 31-40 | 10.7 (10.4 to 11.0) | −0.3 (−0.7 to 0.2) | 16.1 (15.8 to 16.4) | 0.1 (−0.4 to 0.6) | 1056 (1042 to 1070) | 6 (−19 to 31) | |||||
| 41-50 | 10.7 (10.5 to 11.0) | −0.2 (−0.7 to 0.3) | 16.0 (15.7 to 16.3) | −0.04 (−0.6 to 0.5) | 1050 (1037 to 1063) | 0 (−25 to 25) | |||||
| ≥50 | 10.6 (10.5 to 10.7) | −0.3 (−0.7 to 0.1) | 16.1 (16.0 to 16.2) | 0.05 (−0.4 to 0.5) | 1067 (1062 to 1071) | 17 (−5 to 39) | |||||
Analysis of 996 212 (30 322), 973 484 (30 310), and 1 047 103 (30 605) hospital admissions (number of physicians) for mortality, readmissions, and health spending, respectively.
Adjusted for patient characteristics, physician characteristics, and hospital fixed effects.
Standard errors were clustered at the physician level.