FEMALE AND MALE PHYSICIANS - DIFFERENT PRACTICE PROFILES

In a descriptive study using provincial billing profiles, women physicians were found to perform fewer services, see fewer patients, and earn less. Their practice included relatively more female patients and were less likely to include emergency room duty, assists at technical or surgical procedures, visits outside the office, obsterical care, or after-hours services. Women provided more psychotherapy and counseling, ordered more laboratory tests, and generated higher laboratory costs than the men.