Hiring by radiology groups in 1996.

PURPOSE: To determine the hiring activity of radiology groups in 1996. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A survey was mailed to a stratified, random sample of 794 radiology groups in autumn 1996. The response rate was 78%. Responses were weighted to be representative of all of the approximately 3,300 groups in the United States. Findings were compared with those of previous, similar surveys. RESULTS: In the 12 months before the survey, groups sought to hire 1,732 +/- 155 (+/- 1 standard error) diagnostic radiologists and radiation oncologists; 788 +/- 105 of these positions were to fill expansion positions, 562 +/- 86 were replacements for persons who had left the profession, and 382 +/- 78 were replacements for persons who moved to other radiology positions. During the year, an additional 500 +/- 119 positions were vacated that groups did not seek to refill. Groups succeeded in hiring 1,438 +/- 143 radiologists. The percentage of available positions that were filled did not differ across fields. Managed health care reduced the probability a group was expanding but did not otherwise affect hiring activity. CONCLUSION: The 1991-1995 decline in hiring has ceased and perhaps even reversed. There were approximately as many positions available in 1996 as were needed by graduates, although there may have been a small shortfall.

Myocardial infarction in newly diagnosed hypertensive Medicaid patients free of coronary heart disease and treated with calcium channel blockers.

PURPOSE: A retrospective cohort analysis of 1,406 newly diagnosed hypertensive patients, aged 18 to 59, without prior coronary heart disease and initially treated with calcium channel blockers (CCBs) or eight other drug regimens was conducted to evaluate the relative risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) among patients on CCBs alone or with a diuretic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Administrative claims data from Pennsylvania's Medicaid program were the data source. Patients were followed up from 1987 to 1994. RESULTS: There was a highly significant trend towards prescribing CCBs between 1988 and 1991 (P = 0.0001). A total of 67 AMIs occurred, 33 of which were during original drug therapy. Compared with those treated with beta blockers, the relative risk of AMI among patients treated only with CCBs was 0.49 (95%) confidence interval [CI] 0.11 to 2.20). Compared with diuretic therapy, the AMI relative risk associated with CCB therapy was 0.60 (95% CI 0.16 to 2.32) when patient drug regimen was classified based on the first six prescriptions. Several alternative drug regimen classification schemes were tested to evaluate the sensitivity of relative risk of AMI to classification of drug therapy. CONCLUSIONS: The measurement of relative risk of AMI was highly dependent on the study design, including patient selection criteria and classification of patient drug therapy. Previous findings of elevated risk of AMI from CCB antihypertensive therapy could not be confirmed.