Table 1. Patient and Hospitalization Characteristics, Preferences for Participation in Medical Decisions, and Service Quality Measures.
| Variable | No. (%) | P value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total study population (N = 13 902) | Preference for delegating decisions to their doctor | |||
| Agree (n = 9878) | Disagree (n = 4024) | |||
| Patient characteristics and general self-assessed health status | ||||
| Age, mean (SD), y | 56.7 (19.1) | 57.6 (19.2) | 54.7 (18.6) | <.001 |
| Female sex | 8397 (60.4) | 5860 (59.3) | 2537 (63.0) | <.001 |
| African American race | 10 310 (74.2) | 7433 (75.2) | 2877 (71.5) | <.001 |
| Educational attainment | ||||
| Any high school or less | 3003 (21.6) | 2350 (23.8) | 653 (16.2) | <.001 |
| High school graduate | 4391 (31.6) | 3275 (33.2) | 1116 (27.7) | |
| Some college or junior college | 3809 (27.4) | 2596 (26.3) | 1213 (30.1) | |
| College graduate | 1636 (11.8) | 1042 (10.5) | 594 (14.8) | |
| Any graduate-level educational attainment | 1063 (7.6) | 619 (6.3) | 444 (11.0) | |
| Insurance type | ||||
| Private | 3129 (22.5) | 2051 (20.8) | 1078 (26.8) | <.001 |
| Medicare | 7032 (50.6) | 5156 (52.2) | 1876 (46.6) | |
| Medicaid | 3160 (22.7) | 2267 (22.9) | 893 (22.2) | |
| No insurance | 481 (3.5) | 340 (3.4) | 141 (3.5) | |
| General self-assessed health status | ||||
| Excellent | 1089 (7.8) | 772 (7.8) | 317 (7.9) | <.001 |
| Very good | 1625 (11.7) | 1182 (12.0) | 443 (11.0) | |
| Good | 4085 (29.4) | 2905 (29.4) | 1180 (29.3) | |
| Fair | 4396 (31.6) | 3130 (31.7) | 1266 (31.5) | |
| Poor | 2707 (19.5) | 1893 (19.2) | 814 (20.2) | |
| Charlson Comorbidity Index score, mean (SD) | 1.7 (1.7) | 1.7 (1.7) | 1.7 (1.7) | .36 |
| 10 Most frequent principal diagnoses | ||||
| Complications associated with procedures (eg, catheters) | 675 (4.9) | 475 (4.8) | 200 (5.2) | .69 |
| Diabetes | 619 (4.5) | 440 (4.5) | 179 (4.4) | .99 |
| Asthma | 537 (3.9) | 393 (4.0) | 144 (3.6) | .27 |
| Acute kidney failure | 523 (3.8) | 372 (3.8) | 151 (3.8) | .97 |
| Sickle cell anemia | 475 (3.4) | 294 (3.0) | 181 (4.5) | <.001 |
| Pneumonia, organism unspecified | 429 (3.1) | 303 (3.1) | 126 (3.1) | .84 |
| Cellulitis and abscess | 399 (2.9) | 280 (2.8) | 119 (3.0) | .69 |
| Pancreatitis and pancreatic pseudocyst | 329 (2.4) | 235 (2.4) | 94 (2.3) | .88 |
| Disorders of fluids, electrolytes, and acid-base balance | 312 (2.2) | 223 (2.3) | 89 (2.2) | .87 |
| Gastrointestinal hemorrhage | 311 (2.2) | 227 (2.3) | 84 (2.1) | .45 |
| Transfer from another health care facility or service | 1396 (10.0) | 989 (10.0) | 407 (10.1) | .86 |
| Admission on a weekend | 3433 (24.7) | 2468 (25.0) | 965 (24.0) | .23 |
| Patient preference for medical decision-making: “I prefer to leave decisions about my medical care up to my doctor” | ||||
| Definitely agree | 5247 (37.7) | 5247 (53.1) | NA | NA |
| Somewhat agree | 4631 (33.3) | 4631 (46.9) | NA | NA |
| Somewhat disagree | 2230 (16.0) | NA | 2230 (55.4) | NA |
| Definitely disagree | 1794 (12.9) | NA | 1794 (44.6) | NA |
| 3 Service quality measures | ||||
| Overall rating of care received | ||||
| Excellent | 5368 (38.6) | 3974 (40.2) | 1394 (34.6) | <.001 |
| Very good | 3873 (27.9) | 2751 (27.8) | 1122 (27.9) | |
| Good | 3328 (23.9) | 2319 (23.5) | 1009 (25.1) | |
| Fair | 948 (6.8) | 606 (6.1) | 342 (8.5) | |
| Poor | 385 (2.8) | 228 (2.3) | 157 (3.9) | |
| Satisfaction with physician care | ||||
| Extremely satisfied | 9212 (66.3) | 6698 (67.8) | 2514 (62.5) | <.001 |
| Somewhat satisfied | 3788 (27.2) | 2623 (26.6) | 1165 (29.0) | |
| Somewhat dissatisfied | 540 (3.9) | 334 (3.4) | 206 (5.1) | |
| Extremely dissatisfied | 362 (2.6) | 223 (2.3) | 139 (3.5) | |
| Confidence and trust in the physicians providing treatment | ||||
| Yes always | 10 965 (78.9) | 7985 (80.8) | 2980 (74.1) | <.001 |
| Yes sometimes | 2261 (16.3) | 1494 (15.1) | 767 (19.1) | |
| No | 676 (4.9) | 399 (4.0) | 277 (6.9) | |
Abbreviation: NA, not applicable.