Characteristics of specialist physicians seeing patients with diabetes, by physician payment model
| Characteristic | Fee for service n = 193 | Salary based n = 109 |
|---|---|---|
| Physician type* | ||
| Diabetes specialist, no. (%) | 12 (6.2) | 11 (10.1) |
| Internal medicine specialist, no. (%) | 165 (85.5) | 79 (72.5) |
| Kidney specialist, no. (%) | 16 (8.3) | 19 (17.4) |
| Years practising in Alberta since 1994, mean ± SD | 7.5 ± 7.0 | 8.7 ± 5.6 |
| Clinical workload† | ||
| Lowest tertile, no. (%) | 46 (23.8) | 26 (23.9) |
| Mid tertile, no. (%) | 79 (40.9) | 79 (72.5) |
| Highest tertile, no. (%) | 68 (35.2) | 4 (3.7) |
| Location‡ | ||
| Urban zone 1, no. (%) | 119 (61.7) | 49 (45.0) |
| Urban zone 2, no. (%) | 74 (38.3) | 60 (55.1) |
| Clinic location | ||
| Teaching hospital, no. (%) | 21 (11) | 60 (55) |
| Large urban hospital, no. (%) | 64 (33) | 20 (18) |
| Suburban/rural hospital, no. (%) | 10 (5) | 0 (0) |
| Community ambulatory centre, no. (%) | 31 (16) | 16 (15) |
| Missing,§ no. (%) | 67 (34) | 13 (12) |
Note: SD = standard deviation.
↵* Diabetes specialists are endocrinologists and internal medicine physicians who see > 50 patients with diabetes each year and for whom > 30% of claims are for outpatient diabetes care.
↵† Clinical workload is defined as the following: tertile 1 = fewer than 94 days billing per year, tertile 2 = 95–221 days billing per year, tertile 3 = 222–365 days billing per year.
↵‡ The province of Alberta has 2 large urban areas: the cities of Calgary and Edmonton.
↵§ Includes patient home visits and missing clinic locations.