Physician profiles in training the graduate internist

Abstract

Twenty-one members of a graduate internal medicine training program were studied to determine whether feedback of simple ambulatory practice profiles would prove valuable in their training program. Each physician was profiled every three months with regard to number of patients seen, average cost of ancillary testing per visit, average time per visit, and success at obtaining patient compliance. Physicians were randomly selected to receive or not receive profiles. Patients treated by both groups were similar. Variation among physicians' productivity and use of resources ranged from 250 percent to 1,200 percent. Distributing profiles did not statistically affect cost, time, or number of patients seen but did correlate with an increase in compliance. The marked variation observed in physician performance suggests that attention to style of practice during training could produce a significant increase in the amount of services delivered for each health dollar consumed.