
Journal Article
Primary Care Physician Characteristics and Low-Value Care Provision in Japan
To measure physician-level use of 10 low-value care services that provide no net clinical benefit and to investigate the characteristics of primary care physicians who frequently provide low-value care in Japan. This cross-sectional analysis used a nationwide electronic health record database linked with claims data in Japan to assess visits by adult patients (age ≥18 years) to a solo-practice primary care physician from October 1, 2022, through September 30, 2023. Authors analyzed the rate of low-value care services delivered per 100 patients per year, aggregated across 10 low-value measures, after accounting for case mix and other characteristics.
Findings: Nearly half of these low-value care services were provided by 10% of physicians. After accounting for patient case mix, older physicians (age ≥60 years) delivered 2.1 per 100 patients more low-value care services than those younger than 40 years; not board-certified physicians delivered 0.8 per 100 patients more than general internal medicine board-certified physicians; physicians with higher patient volumes delivered 2.3 per 100 patients more than those with low patient volumes; and physicians practicing in Western Japan delivered 1.0 per 100 patients more than those in Eastern Japan.