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Taking societal cost into clinical consideration: U.S. physicians' views.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Stavig, AR; Tak, HJ; Yoon, JD; Curlin, FA
Published in: AJOB Empir Bioeth
2018

BACKGROUND: Recent campaigns (e.g., the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation's Choosing Wisely) reflect the increasing role that physicians are expected to have in stewarding health care resources. We examine whether physicians believe they should pay attention to societal costs or refuse requests for costly interventions with little chance of patient benefit. METHODS: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a 2010 national survey of 2016 U.S. physicians sampled from the AMA Physician Masterfile. Criterion measures were agreement or disagreement with two survey items related to costs of care. We also examined whether physicians' practice and religious characteristics were associated with their responses. RESULTS: The adjusted response rate was 62% (1156/1878). Forty-seven percent of physicians agreed that physicians "should not consider the societal cost of medical care when caring for individual patients," whereas 69% agreed that physicians "should refuse requests from patients or their families for costly interventions that have little chance of benefitting the patient." Physicians in specialties that care for patients at the end of life were more supportive of refusing such costly interventions. We did not find consistent associations between physicians' religiosity and their responses to these items, though those least supportive of taking into account societal cost were disproportionately from Christian affiliations. CONCLUSION: Physicians were nearly evenly divided regarding whether they should help control societal costs when caring for individual patients, but a strong majority agreed that physicians should refuse costly interventions that have little chance of benefit.

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Published In

AJOB Empir Bioeth

DOI

EISSN

2329-4523

Publication Date

2018

Volume

9

Issue

3

Start / End Page

173 / 180

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • United States
  • Physicians
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Health Resources
  • Health Care Reform
  • Health Care Costs
  • Female
 

Citation

APA
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ICMJE
MLA
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Stavig, A. R., Tak, H. J., Yoon, J. D., & Curlin, F. A. (2018). Taking societal cost into clinical consideration: U.S. physicians' views. AJOB Empir Bioeth, 9(3), 173–180. https://doi.org/10.1080/23294515.2018.1498408
Stavig, Alissa R., Hyo Jung Tak, John D. Yoon, and Farr A. Curlin. “Taking societal cost into clinical consideration: U.S. physicians' views.AJOB Empir Bioeth 9, no. 3 (2018): 173–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/23294515.2018.1498408.
Stavig AR, Tak HJ, Yoon JD, Curlin FA. Taking societal cost into clinical consideration: U.S. physicians' views. AJOB Empir Bioeth. 2018;9(3):173–80.
Stavig, Alissa R., et al. “Taking societal cost into clinical consideration: U.S. physicians' views.AJOB Empir Bioeth, vol. 9, no. 3, 2018, pp. 173–80. Pubmed, doi:10.1080/23294515.2018.1498408.
Stavig AR, Tak HJ, Yoon JD, Curlin FA. Taking societal cost into clinical consideration: U.S. physicians' views. AJOB Empir Bioeth. 2018;9(3):173–180.

Published In

AJOB Empir Bioeth

DOI

EISSN

2329-4523

Publication Date

2018

Volume

9

Issue

3

Start / End Page

173 / 180

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • United States
  • Physicians
  • Patient Acceptance of Health Care
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Health Resources
  • Health Care Reform
  • Health Care Costs
  • Female