What types of research is COER currently conducting?
We fund a number of studies that are taking place in physician-based practice networks. Many physicians—particularly as they accept capitated contracts—now have to look at practice variations in a new way. Decisions that were left to individual physicians before become more compelling when you’ve got a fixed budget to provide care for patients. Suddenly it becomes more interesting to know there’s a big difference across you and the six other people you practice with in terms of how often you order certain tests or procedures, or under what conditions you make clinical recommendations. In some areas of the country, larger and larger physician groups are forming, and again, they are going to have more reason to look at how they are providing care. Q: Will this research change the way physicians practice? A: Ultimately, I hope it will help physicians manage the change from providing care for individual patients to actually managing the care of populations of patients. But we have a lot of
