Final Project data set

4584 Community Tracking Study Physician Survey, 2004-2005

I choose the following data set:

http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/4584/detail

This data set is the survey section of the Community Tracking Survey Physicians Survey, conducted in 2004-2005. This survey is the fourth round of a physician’s survey component, the first round being conducted in 1996-1997. The survey details the changes in the U.S healthcare system and its effects on individuals. Information from this survey includes net income from practice, sex, race, specialty, board certification etc. Additionally the survey obtained views on a number of issues like patient-physician interaction, competition among practices, the influence of financial incentives on the quality of the services provided to the patients etc.



The research questions I am interested in and would like to pose are:
à Is there any evidence that physicians are making a greater part of their compensation through Medicare and Medicaid? How do race and sex affect the earnings of primary care physicians.

à What makes patients choose certain physicians besides their specialty? Are race or sex variables that play a part in this decision? For example do women prefer female physicians and would Hispanics prefer to visit a Hispanic physician?



Questions that could be posed to the class could be:
à Do you pick you primary care physician (PCP) at random, or are there some variables involved? If yes, than what are those? Do you prefer a PHD or an MD?

à Besides the rates that your insurance provider sets up, what do you think about that rates that are charged by your physician?