Comparison of Hospital Mortality and Readmission Rates by Physician and Patient Sex

https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M23-3163?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_30aDXNEtLbavuVKRV5OvjYdCyE6spguYnGsepq4vWt98xfe0vNhmQFU8nczLTcPccPKyW1ElTLbe_toHTZrL3PJfk3w&_hsmi=303866047&utm_content=303866047&utm_source=hs_email Female physicians deliver better results, especially for female patients A large new study published yesterday in Annals of Internal Medicine found that in a cohort of close to 800,000 Medicare patients, those who were treated by a female physician had lower mortality and readmission rates. While previous research has shown that patients see better outcomes with female physicians, here the improvement was especially significant for female patients, STAT’s Nalis Merelli tells us. “Generally speaking, miscommunication, misunderstanding, and bias are more likely to occur when those in the majority become advocates for the minority,” Atsushi Miyawaki, the study’s corresponding author, said in an email to STAT — like when a male physician treats a female patient. Male patients had similar mortality and readmission rates regardless of their physician’s gender, something that Miyawaki said should be subject to further investigation.