Physician Discretion and Racial Variation in the Use of Surgical Procedures

Abstract

With the exception of hysterectomy and prostatectomy, procedure rates for whites were greater than those for blacks for a wide range of surgical procedures. Racial variation exists for low-discretion procedures as well as for those associated with moderate and high discretion. Variation among low-discretion procedures that is not explained by medical need suggests the possibility of race-related differences in access to care or in the way patients and physicians make clinical decisions.