National Study of Physician Organizations (NSPO3), United States, 2012-2013 (ICPSR 38587)
Version Date: Jan 31, 2023 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Stephen M. Shortell, University of California-Berkeley
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38587.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
The National Study of Physician Organizations was designed to improve understanding of evidence-based care management processes (CMPs) as they relate to physician organizations (POs), that is, independent practice associations (IPAs) and medical groups. This survey, the third NSPO survey of IPAs and medical groups (NSPO2), examined over 2000 physician organizations of all sizes. As in prior surveys, NSPO3 collected demographic information about the following practices and assesses: (1) use of clinical information technology; (2) use of care management processes to improve the quality of care for four chronic conditions (asthma, congestive heart failure, depression, and diabetes); (3) provision of clinical preventive services and health promotion; (4) exposure to external performance incentives such as pay for performance and public reporting; (5) payer mix, forms of compensation from health plans, and forms of compensation paid by the practice to its physicians; (6) organizational culture. In addition, NSPO3 asked about participation or intended participation in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).
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Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
United States
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Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
To provide healthcare organizations and researchers with important data on the management of four major chronic illnesses: asthma, coronary heart disease, depression, and diabetes.
Study Design View help for Study Design
NSPO3 is a cross-sectional national survey of U.S. medical groups of all sizes.
Sample View help for Sample
The practices were sampled from the IMS Healthcare Organization Services database as of May, 2011. Organizations with a significant proportion of primary care providers (family physicians, general internists, and general practitioners), cardiologists, endocrinologists and/or pulmonologists were eligible for this study. Practices with 20 or fewer physicians were eligible if at least 40% were in the focal specialties, and practices with more than 20 physicians were eligible if at least 30% were in the focal specialties. Academic faculty practices and practices associated with federal hospitals were excluded.
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Universe View help for Universe
Physician organizations in the United States.
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Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
Variables include: makeup of specialists at the organization, use of electronic medical records, patient base race/ethnicity makeup, management practices for patients, communication with health plan providers, annual revenues, and organization finances.
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Two types of weights are provided, sampling ("FWT") and longitudinal ("LWT") weights. The sampling weights should be applied for cross-sectional NSPO3 analysis. Longitudinal weights should be applied if conducting over-time analysis with NSPO2 and/or NSMPP respondents.
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The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

This study is maintained and distributed by the Health and Medical Care Archive (HMCA). HMCA is the official data archive of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.