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Determinants of prescribing costs amongst single-handed general practitioners
1Department of Primary Care and General Practice, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK. p.s.gill@bham.ac.uk
Objective:
To investigate the contribution of patient and doctor characteristics in explaining observed variations in prescribing costs between individual doctors.
Method:
Secondary analysis of data collected from general practitioners, Family Health Services Authorities, 1991 Census data set and the Prescription Pricing Authority.
Results:
A multiple regression model with four variables (social class, training status, generic prescribing and length of time in general practice) explained only 16.5% of the variation in costs/ASTRO-PU.
Conclusion:
This study highlights that very little of the variation in prescribing costs can readily be explained. Further research is needed to document contributing factors.