Do doctors who order more routine medical tests diagnose more cancers? A population-based study from Ontario Canada.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The overuse of medical tests leads to higher costs, wasting of resources, and the potential for overdiagnosis of disease. This study was designed to determine whether the patients of family doctors who order more routine medical tests are diagnosed with more cancers.

Method

A retrospective population-based cross-sectional study using administrative health care data in Ontario Canada. We investigated the ordering of 23 routine laboratories and imaging tests 2008-20012 by 6849 Ontario family physicians on their 4.9 million rostered adult patients. We compared physicians' test utilization and calculated case-mix adjusted observed to expected (O:E) utilization ratios to categorize physicians as Typical, Higher or Lower testers. Age-sex standardized rates (cases/10 000

SUBMITTER: Hall SF 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6382726 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature