Preventive care receipt and office visit use among breast and colorectal cancer survivors relative to age- and gender-matched cancer-free controls.

Purpose: We compare breast and colorectal cancer survivors' annual receipt of preventive care and office visits to that of age- and gender-matched cancer-free controls.

Methods: Automated data, including tumor registries, were used to identify insured individuals aged 50+ at the time of breast or colorectal cancer diagnosis between 2000 and 2008 as well as cancer-free controls receiving care from four integrated delivery systems. Those with metastatic or un-staged disease, or a prior cancer diagnosis were excluded.

Does payment drive procedures? Payment for specialty services and procedure rate variations in 3 HMOs.

Objective: To study how payment for specialty services affects the rates of performance of invasive procedures by physicians in a number of specialties.

Study Design: Observational study.

Patients And Methods: Administrative data from 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 from 3 large health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in the Midwestern and western United States were used to study variations in procedure rates associated with different methods of paying for cardiology, gastroenterology, ophthalmology, orthopedic, and ear, nose and throat services within each HMO.