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Table 1 Mean volume (number of physical therapy sessions per treatment episode) according to patient, physiotherapist and referring physician characteristics in the source and studied population

From: The effect of patient, provider and financing regulations on the intensity of ambulatory physical therapy episodes: a multilevel analysis based on routinely available data

 

Source population

Studied populationa

 

N (%) or mean value of the category

Mean volume (SD)

N (%) or mean value of the category

Mean volume (SD)

Variables

N = 169,305

12.1 (11.9)

N = 87,866

11.7 (10.8)

Patient factors

Age (years)

 <18

10,667 (6%)

8.9 (8.3)

6,928 (8%)

8.5 (7.0)

 19-39

30,998 (18%)

10.3 (9.5)

18,546 (21%)

9.8 (8.0)

 40-59

59,987 (35%)

12.1 (11.4)

31,150 (35%)

11.7 (10.1)

 60-79

52,318 (31%)

13.1 (12.6)

24,241 (28%)

13.0 (11.9)

 80+

15,335 (9%)

14.8 (16.4)

7,001 (8%)

14.8 (16.0)

Gender

 Male

62,869 (37%)

11.8 (11.9)

35,472 (40%)

11.3 (10.6)

 Female

106,436 (63%)

12.3 (12.0)

52,394 (60%)

11.9 (10.9)

Nature of the main condition

 Neurological disease

6,086 (4%)

17.5 (22.2)

2,336 (3%)

16.9 (21.4)

 Shoulder surgeryb

1,722 (1%)

16.9 (14.4)

337 (0%)

19.0 (15.8)

 Muscle diseaseb

1,112 (1%)

14.8 (14.4)

331 (0%)

15.3 (14.7)

 Other hip surgeryb

1,827 (1%)

14.6 (13.3)

489 (1%)

13.9 (12.3)

 Knee prosthesisb

3,363 (2%)

14.4 (12.7)

661 (1%)

16.9 (13.7)

 Rehabilitation

863 (1%)

14.4 (17.0)

285 (0%)

12.5 (11.2)

 Hip prosthesisb

4,553 (3%)

13.6 (12.3)

848 (1%)

13.9 (12.2)

 Other orthopedicsb

3,055 (2%)

13.6 (13.1)

1,629 (2%)

13.4 (14.4)

 Backb

8,563 (5%)

13.5 (13.6)

2,388 (3%)

13.6 (14.3)

 Osteoporosisb

5,701 (3%)

13.4 (13.2)

2,474 (3%)

13.6 (12.2)

 Cancer

3,178 (2%)

13.1 (13.4)

1,421 (2%)

13.2 (14.2)

 Traumab

4,947 (3%)

13.0 (13.6)

2,111 (2%)

12.5 (12.1)

 Lymphatic and breast disease

1,587 (1%)

13.0 (12.9)

600 (1%)

12.4 (11.4)

 Kneeb

469 (0%)

12.6 (9.2)

173 (0%)

13.4 (10.4)

 Rheumatologyb

7,887 (5%)

12.3 (11.7)

3675 (4%)

12.4 (11.3)

 Psychiatry

34,242 (20%)

12.3 (11.8)

17,588 (20%)

12.3 (11.5)

 Other (medical)

41,592 (25%)

11.0 (9.7)

25,764 (29%)

10.9 (9.0)

 Surgery

5,529 (3%)

10.8 (9.0)

3,203 (4%)

10.3 (7.6)

 Any of above

33,029 (20%)

10.7 (9.7)

21,553 (25%)

10.4 (8.3)

Comorbidity burden (annual health care costs, mean in 103 CHF)

 <1000

27,242 (16%)

10.3 (8.8)

22,319 (25%)

10.1 (8.1)

 1001-2000

20,062 (12%)

10.5 (8.3)

13,754 (16%)

10.4 (7.9)

 2001-5000

44,321 (26%)

11.2 (8.9)

24,725 (28%)

11.3 (8.6)

 5001-10000

36,000 (21%)

12.2 (10.6)

14,805 (17%)

12.5 (10.5)

 10001-20000

24,169 (14%)

13.4 (13.0)

7,451 (8%)

14.1 (13.8)

 20001-50000

13,626 (8%)

16.1 (18.5)

3,747 (4%)

16.8 (19.2)

 >50000

3,885 (2%)

22.3 (30.1)

1,065 (1%)

24.5 (32.8)

Deductibles

 <=300

98,499 (58%)

12.4 (12.6)

50764 (58%)

11.9 (11.4)

 301-600

55,734 (33%)

12.2 (11.3)

27582 (31%)

11.7 (10.4)

 601-1500

11,984 (7%)

10.4 (8.6)

7484 (9%)

10.1 (7.5)

 >1500

3,088 (2%)

10.0 (9.5)

2036 (2%)

9.6 (8.3)

Large city residencec

 No

104,960 (62%)

12.0 (11.8)

55680 (63%)

11.5 (10.7)

 Yes

64,345 (38%)

12.4 (12.0)

32186 (37%)

11.9 (10.9)

Number of physicians per patient

 1

98,864 (58%)

11.7 (10.9)

84231 (96%)

11.6 (10.6)

 2

45,346 (27%)

12.6 (12.9)

3633 (4%)

12.6 (13.6)

 >2

25,095 (15%)

13.1 (13.7)

2 (0%)

5.5 (3.5)

Number of physiotherapists per patient

 1

116,868 (69%)

12.1 (11.7)

85332(97%)

11.6 (10.7)

 2

39,471 (23%)

12.3 (12.3)

2426 (3%)

12.8 (11.8)

 >2

12,966 (8%)

12.0 (12.4)

108 (0%)

13.4 (12.7)

Physician factors

Proportion of treatments by physician as a nine-session episode by quintiles rank

 1st

22%

10.5 (11.8)

21%

9.8 (10.1)

 2nd

49%

11.1 (11.2)

48%

10.6 (10.3)

 3rd

63%

12.4 (12.5)

63%

11.9 (11.3)

 4th

73%

13.3 (12.0)

73%

12.8 (11.0)

 5th

86%

13.4 (11.9)

85%

13.2 (10.7)

Proportion of new treatments by physician by quintiles rank

 1st

48%

15.2 (16.8)

50%

14.3 (15.2)

 2nd

60%

12.7 (12.0)

61%

12.0 (10.6)

 3rd

65%

11.7 (10.5)

66%

11.5 (9.9)

 4th

71%

11.3 (9.8)

72%

10.9 (8.7)

 5th

81%

9.8 (7.6)

81%

9.6 (7.1)

Variation coefficient of the physician (by quintiles rank)d

 1st

0.45

10.3 (5.8)

0.38

9.9 (4.7)

 2nd

0.65

11.4 (7.8)

0.56

10.8 (6.7)

 3rd

0.76

11.6 (9.4)

0.67

11.6 (8.3)

 4th

0.88

13.0 (12.1)

0.80

11.9 (10.1)

 5th

1.19

14.5 (19.3)

1.14

14.1 (18.2)

Physiotherapist factors

Proportion of treatments by physiotherapist as a nine-session episode by quintiles rank

 1st

29%

11.0 (12.6)

30%

10.2 (11.2)

 2nd

46%

11.2 (11.1)

47%

10.8 (10.4)

 3rd

56%

12.0 (11.4)

56%

11.4 (10.0)

 4th

68%

12.8 (12.3)

68%

12.4 (10.7)

 5th

84%

13.8 (11.9)

84%

13.5 (11.1)

Proportion of new treatments by physiotherapist by quintiles rank

 1st

49%

14.9 (16.9)

51%

14.2 (15.0)

 2nd

60%

12.6 (11.7)

61%

12.0 (10.5)

 3rd

66%

11.8 (10.8)

51%

14.2 (10.0)

 4th

71%

11.0 (9.4)

61%

12.0 (8.6)

 5th

80%

10.3 (8.4)

67%

11.5 (7.7)

Variation coefficient of the physiotherapist (by quintiles rank)e

 1st

0.53

10.8 (6.4)

0.46

10.4 (5.6)

 2nd

0.68

11.4 (8.2)

0.61

10.7 (7.0)

 3rd

0.78

11.7 (9.6)

0.70

11.4 (8.4)

 4th

0.89

12.5 (11.8)

0.81

11.7 (9.9)

 5th

1.20

14.3 (19.1)

1.13

14.1 (18.0)

  1. aRestricted to the first treatment episode per patient and patients treated by a physiotherapist and a physician with at least two observations (allowing a value of the coefficient of variation).
  2. bReferred to as musculoskeletal conditions in the manuscript.
  3. cIn one of the 62 largest cities.
  4. dN = 167,196 because of missing values of the coefficient of variation.
  5. eN = 168,979 because of missing values of the coefficient of variation.
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BMC Health Services Research

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