Seniors with greater access to primary care doctors also have lower death rates, the study authors reported. But the availability of these physicians did not correspond to lower medical costs, which were just as high in areas rich in primary care doctors, the study found.
Researchers at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice analyzed the medical records and hospital claims of 5.1 million beneficiaries in traditional Medicare programs in 2007. In the areas with the highest concentrations of primary care doctors working full time in outpatient clinical settings, people 65 and older had death rates 5 percent lower than in areas with fewer primary care doctors. They were almost 10 percent less likely to be hospitalized in these areas for conditions that can be treated outside a hospital.
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