During the one to four years after myocardial infarction, patients treated at hospitals with higher rates of angiography had more favorable outcomes than those treated at hospitals with lower rates. This association was stronger among patients for whom published criteria indicated that angiography was necessary.

Patients value the first-contact and coordinating role of primary care physicians. However, managed care policies that emphasize primary care physicians as gatekeepers impeding access to specialists undermine patients' trust and confidence in their primary care physicians.

Acute liver failure or injury not clearly attributable to other known causes occurred on the order of 1 per 10,000 person-years among diabetic patients treated with oral hypoglycemic drugs or insulin.

No abstract

The dosages of beta-blockers shown to be effective in randomized trials are not commonly used in clinical practice, and treatment with lower dosages of beta-blockers was associated with at least as great a reduction in mortality as treatment with higher dosages. This suggests that physicians who are reluctant to prescribe beta-blockers because of the relatively large dosages used in the large prospective clinical trials should be encouraged to prescribe smaller dosages.