Income disparities in needle biopsy patients prior to breast cancer surgery across physician peer groups

摘要

Objective Evaluate income disparities in receipt of needle biopsy among Medicare beneficiaries and describe the magnitude of this variation across physician peer groups. Methods The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database was queried from 2007–2009. Physician peer groups were constructed. The magnitude of income disparities and the patient-level and physician peer group-level effects were assessed. Results Among 9770 patients, 65.4% received needle biopsy. Patients with low income (median area-level household income?