County and Physician Variation in Benzodiazepine Prescribing to Medicare Beneficiaries by Primary Care Physicians in the USA.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Physicians widely prescribe benzodiazepines (BZD) despite well-recognized harms.

Objective

To determine county and provider characteristics that predict high-intensity BZD prescribing by primary care physicians (PCPs) to Medicare beneficiaries.

Design

Cross-sectional analysis of the 2015 Medicare Part D Public Use Files (PUF).

Subjects

n = 122,054 PCPs who prescribed 37.3 billion medication days.

Main measures

Primary outcome was intensity of BZD prescribing (days prescribed/total medication days) at the county- and physician levels. PCP and county characteristics were derived from the Part D PUF, Area Health Resources Files, and County Health Rankings. Logistic regression determined the characteristics associated with high-intensity (top quar

SUBMITTER: Maust DT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6258632 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature