| Choice, numeracy, and physicians-in-training performance: the case of Medicare Part D. | |
| | |
MedLine Citation:
|
PMID: 20658834 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
|
OBJECTIVE: In this study, we examined the effect of choice-set size and numeracy levels on a physician-in-training's ability to choose appropriate Medicare drug plans. DESIGN: Medical students and internal medicine residents (N = 100) were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 surveys, differing only in the number of plans to be evaluated (3, 10, and 20). After reviewing information about stand-alone Medicare prescription drug plans, participants answered questions about what plan they would advise 2 hypothetical patients to choose on the basis of a brief summary of the relevant concerns of each patient. Participants also completed an 11-item numeracy scale. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Ability to answer correctly questions about hypothetical Medicare Part D insurance plans and numeracy levels. RESULTS: Consistent with our hypotheses, increases in choice sets correlated significantly with fewer correct answers, and higher numeracy levels were associated with more correct answers. Hence, our data further highlight the role of numeracy in financial- and health-related decision making, and also raise concerns about physicians' ability to help patients choose the optimal Part D plan. CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that even physicians-in-training perform more poorly when choice size is larger, thus raising concerns about the capacity of physicians-in-training to successfully navigate Medicare Part D and help their patients pick the best drug plan. Our results also illustrate the importance of numeracy in evaluating insurance-related information and the need for enhancing numeracy skills among medical students and physicians. |
| | |
Authors:
|
Yaniv Hanoch; Talya Miron-Shatz; Helen Cole; Mary Himmelstein; Alex D Federman |
Related Documents
:
|
9934324 - Academic models for practice relief, recruitment, and retention at the university of ne... 20522584 - Worldwide physician education and training in pulmonary hypertension: pulmonary vascula... 18448754 - Physician reentry: a concept whose time has come. 8118584 - Family physicians' support for school-based hiv prevention education programs. 12454354 - Perspectives on workplace disability management: a review of the literature. 16389044 - The scope of duty hour-associated residency structure modifications. |
Publication Detail:
|
Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't |
Journal Detail:
|
Title: Health psychology : official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association Volume: 29 ISSN: 1930-7810 ISO Abbreviation: Health Psychol Publication Date: 2010 Jul |
Date Detail:
|
Created Date: 2010-07-27 Completed Date: 2010-11-01 Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
|
Nlm Unique ID: 8211523 Medline TA: Health Psychol Country: United States |
Other Details:
|
Languages: eng Pagination: 454-9 Citation Subset: IM |
Copyright Information:
|
PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved |
Affiliation:
|
School of Psychology, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, England. yaniv.hanoch@plymouth.ac.uk |
Export Citation:
|
APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
|
Adult Choice Behavior* Comprehension* Decision Making* Drug Prescriptions / economics Female Formularies as Topic Hospitals, Teaching Humans Internship and Residency Male Medicare Part D / economics, statistics & numerical data* Physicians Statistics as Topic Students, Medical / psychology* United States Young Adult |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
Previous Document: Associations between adult attachment ratings and health conditions: Evidence from the National Como...
Next Document: A randomized controlled trial of emotionally expressive writing for women with metastatic breast can...