Table 6. County data: Ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates—Number of physicians per 100,000 residents

Impact of State Laws Limiting Malpractice Awards on Geographic Distribution of Physicians

(1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000 data with dummy time variables; N =14,640)

Explanatory variable	Coefficient	Standard error>	t statistic
Intercept	167.49	7.80	21.47
Residency program in hospital in county (yes = 1, no = 0)	169.68	8.80	19.30
Percent of population unemployed	-285.53	44.70	-6.39
Births per 100,000 population	-0.02	0.005	-3.84
Measures of rural influence (0 = least rural, 9 = most rural)	-8.19	0.65	-12.57
High HMO penetration (above 30 percent)	18.87	4.43	4.26
Temperate climate (average temp>70 degrees)	60.50	15.89	3.81
State law capping damage awards in malpractice cases (1=yes, 0=no)	13.65	3.30	4.13
1997 (1=yes, 0=no)	2.29	.39	5.91
1998 (1=yes, 0=no)	4.66	.60	7.74
1999 (1=yes, 0=no)	6.11	.72	8.44
2000 (1=yes, 0=no)	7.20	0.96	7.53

R²= .42. Robust standard errors are corrected for clustering at the county.

Current as of July 2003

Internet Citation: Table 6. County data: Ordinary least squares (OLS) estimates—Number of physicians per 100,000 residents: Impact of State Laws Limiting Malpractice Awards on Geographic Distribution of Physicians. July 2003. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/final-reports/tortcaps/torttab6.html