Costs of care provided by trainees in internal medicine and family practice

Selection bias has apparently played a significant role in previous efforts to compare practice costs and habits of internists and family practitioners. Unless the population of patients seen by the practitioners is randomly selected, it is of little value to compare the care provided. In this smal randomized study it was shown that the cost of care was not significantly different between the two training sites. In previous studies, authors have often suggested that family practitioners order fewer laboratoy tests. The difference in the cost of laboratory tests ordered in this study was less than 4 percent of the total cost of laboratory tests. The total cost difference for five months of ambulatory care by internists of family practitioners was 6 percent.