Why the study?
Does Medicare HMO enrollment affect perioperative care and outcomes in patients with colon cancer compared to fee-for-service?
Population
813 patients with colon cancer from 12 states.
Comparison
Medicare health maintenance organization… vs Fee-for-service nonenrollees
Design
Cross-sectional
Authors
Loading...
HMO enrollment was associated with shorter stays and fewer services without worse short-term outcomes; leaves open questions of selection bias and causality.
Does Medicare HMO enrollment affect perioperative care and outcomes in patients with colon cancer compared to fee-for-service?
Medicare HMO enrollees with colon cancer receive fewer perioperative clinical services and have shorter hospital stays than fee-for-service patients, without differences in short-term outcomes.
Sheldon M. Retchin (1997) studied this question.