Table 2.

Summary of participating clinic practice information

CLINIC TYPETOTAL NO. OF PATIENTSNO. OF CLINICSNO. OF PHYSICIANSAVERAGE FTE HOURS*AVERAGE PANEL SIZE
Fee for service
  • Rural18 7162236.31475
  • Urban10 9552114.01327
Salaried
  • Rural54145111.7683
  • Urban19 0096485.8555
Salaried residency training clinics
  • Urban10 6933254.3799
  • FTE—full-time equivalent.

  • * The FTE hours were totaled per clinic, as many of the clinics in this study had a moderate or large amount of cross-coverage relating to patient care in the 18 months studied. The FTE hours were calculated as the amount of time each physician spent providing clinical care in a typical week. A value of 0.1 per half-day for 1 primary care provider was assigned, meaning a full-time 5-day work week equaled 1.0.

  • Panel size was determined for each clinic and calculated by the following formula: total no. of active patients per clinic divided by the total FTE hours worked per clinic.