Medical manpower: A multivariate analysis of the distribution of physicians in Urban United States

This study is a multivariate analysis of physicians distribution in urban United States which examines the relationship between community characteristics in 299 Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas and 27 physicians-population ratios listed by type of medical practice and specialty. The community characteristics arc: Population size, population density, per capita buying power, per household buying power, the existence of a more populous metropolitan area within 75 miles, median years of education of the population, percentage of population aged 65 and over, percentage of population categorized as "white" and the number of non-Federal acute general hospital beds per 1,000 population. The phvsician-population ratios arc categorized as physicans in "patient care," "private practice" (solo, partnership, group and other practice), and “hospital based practice,” with a total of 21 specialties. Using Morgan and Sonquist’s Automatic Interaction Dectector Program (AID), it was determined which community characteristics most improved the ability to predict the distribution of the different types and specialties of physicians analyzed.