Physician use among patients receiving cancer chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND

Little research has examined the volume and pattern of physician use or the scope of multiple physician use in patients with cancer.

METHODS

The authors studied a sample of 259 patients with advanced cancer who received outpatient chemotherapy at two hospital clinics and eight private oncology practices.

RESULTS

These patients reported regularly seeing an average of three different physicians an average of 15 times in 3 months. The number of physicians seen was strongly correlated with the number of reported visits (r = 0.65). Demographic and disease characteristics were associated only moderately with visit volume. Patients without a regular physician had a less concentrated pattern of visits to many doctors than did those with a regular doctor.

CONCLUSIONS

This pattern of physician use among active treatment patients has not been described before and has implications for continuity of care.