Study finds significant variations in care between physicians in the U.S.

Recommendable! Some doctors are quacks! Patients beware and apply common sense! When serious consult more than one physician before undergoing serious treatment!

However, this is a very difficult and complex subject to study! This study is comprehensive and carefully designed.

Don't worry, this is not a study on systemic racism or based on some other related ideology!

Wrong incentives may also play a role!

"... “In some of the cases we looked at, physicians who made the most clinically appropriate decisions were five to 10 times more likely to use the recommended standard of care than peers in the same specialties and cities whose decisions tended to be the least appropriate. The differences we found are a cause for concern,” ...
To minimize the chance that variation in the care received may be due to patient differences rather than physician decision-making, the researchers compared similar patients with similar clinical and demographic characteristics. ...
For example, right now some employers and insurers require higher co-pays for patients who go to higher-priced hospitals to encourage use of lower-priced hospitals. Generally, appropriateness of clinical decisions is not factored in. ...
Some estimates suggest that approximately 25 percent of health care spending in the U.S. is wasteful.  ..."

From the abstract:

"... In this cross-sectional study of 5 US metropolitan areas, sizeable physician-level practice variations were found across common clinical scenarios and specialties. Understanding the sources of these variations may inform efforts to improve the value of care. ..."

Study finds significant variations in care between physicians – Harvard Gazette

Physician Practice Pattern Variations in Common Clinical Scenarios Within 5 US Metropolitan Areas (open access)