Effects of medical practice structure on resource use

The drive to national health care reform has made a central issue of variations among physicians in the use of resources to treat similar cases. While much research exists on this issue, little of it concentrates on the impact of practice structure on resource use. In this column, the author comments on that research. This column is intended as a point of ongoing analysis of health services research of importance to physician executives. The column is edited by John Kralewski, PhD, who heads the Institute for Health Services Research at the University of Minnesota.