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Full-Text Articles in Biostatistics

A Small Area Simulation Approach To Determining Variation In Dental Procedure Rates, Paula Diehr Nov 1990

A Small Area Simulation Approach To Determining Variation In Dental Procedure Rates, Paula Diehr

Paula Diehr

All small area analyses need to compare the observed variability in rates to that expected by chance alone, but the expected variability is usually not known. This paper uses patient-level data for five dental procedures to simulate the distributions of the summary statistics that are usually generated in such studies. These statistics are found to vary greatly even under the "null hypothesis" that all dentists are using procedures at the same rates. The simulated dentist rates are compared to observed rates obtained in a different study. These findings illustrate problems that can occur in small area analysis studies, and emphasize …


Use Of A Preferred Provider Plan By Employees Of The City Of Seattle, Paula Diehr Nov 1990

Use Of A Preferred Provider Plan By Employees Of The City Of Seattle, Paula Diehr

Paula Diehr

Little is known about the use of services in a preferred provider organization (PPO). We studied a preferred provider arrangement between Pacific Medical Center and employees of the City of Seattle. In the second 12 months of this program 8,529 subjects submitted at least one claim; of these, only 420 (4.9%) ever used the preferred provider. Those who used the PPO at least once differed significantly from those who never used it on age, sex, employee/dependent status, and utilization in the previous year. Outpatient and total charges were higher for PPO users than for nonusers before and after control for …


What Is Too Much Variation? The Null Hypothesis In Small-Area Analysis, Paula Diehr Feb 1990

What Is Too Much Variation? The Null Hypothesis In Small-Area Analysis, Paula Diehr

Paula Diehr

A small-area analysis (SAA) in health services research often calculates surgery rates for several small areas, compares the largest rate to the smallest, notes that the difference is large, and attempts to explain this discrepancy as a function of service availability, physician practice styles, or other factors. SAAs are often difficult to interpret because there is little theoretical basis for determining how much variation would be expected under the null hypothesis that all of the small areas have similar underlying surgery rates and that the observed variation is due to chance. We developed a computer program to simulate the distribution …


Stock Identification Of Weakfish, Cynoscion Regalis, By Discriminant Function Analysis Of Morphometric Characters, Daniel R. Scoles Jan 1990

Stock Identification Of Weakfish, Cynoscion Regalis, By Discriminant Function Analysis Of Morphometric Characters, Daniel R. Scoles

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