Study: Inconsistencies in AMA Masterfile

There are large differences in the number and distribution of physicians identified as pediatric cardiologists in the datasets of the AMA Masterfile and the roster of the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP), according to a study published in the September issue of Academic Medicine. Use of such data has the potential to lead to policy options at odds with actual needs, the authors concluded.

The study authors queried the AMA Masterfile in 2002 for pediatric cardiologists and compared the results to the records of the ABP. Of the 2,675 physicians listed in either dataset, 58% were listed by both the AMA Masterfile and the ABP, 28% were listed by the Masterfile only, and 4% were listed by the ABP only. Of those listed only in the Masterfile, 40% reported in surveys that they provide no pediatric cardiology care, according to the study.  

"[I]f the data on physicians in other subspecialties are as inadequate as the data we found on pediatric cardiologists, it is clear that determining the true, or even approximate number of physicians who provide care in a specific discipline is a complex enterprise that must take into account a potentially significant error rate and the likelihood of misattribution of specialty or subspecialty for a large number of physicians in the AMA Masterfile," the authors reported.

The authors concluded that future research employing physician supply data from the AMA Masterfile requires additional scrutiny of the completeness and accuracy of the Masterfile dataset.

To read the study abstract, click here.