An Evaluation of the American Medical Association's Physician Masterfile as a Data Source: One State's Experience

• Published in: Medical care Vol. 15; no. 9; pp. 767 - 779
• Main Authors: Cherkin, Dan, Lawrence, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States J. B. Lippincott Co 01-09-1977; Lippincott-Raven Publishers
• Subjects: American Medical Association; Education certifications; Employment; Evaluation Studies as Topic; Filing; Information Services - standards; Licensure, Medical; Medical education; Medical practice; Medical schools; Osteopathic Medicine; Patient care; Physicians; Professional licensing; Questionnaires; Teaching methods; United States; Washington; United States; Washington
• ISSN: 0025-7079; 1537-1948
• DOI: 10.1097/00005650-197709000-00004

An evaluation of the American Medical Association's (AMA) Physician Masterfile is presented here on a state level. Both completeness and reliability of the AMA data were assessed for physicians licensed and living in Washington State. Comparison of the AMA data with state licensure data indicated excellent agreement, with only a small proportion of licensed physicians "missing" from the AMA Masterfile. Their absence was due largely to differences in the manner in which the two systems updated their files. The reliability of the AMA data was checked by comparing it with similar, independently gathered survey data on birth date, birthplace, medical school, type of practice, specialty, board certifications, and employer. In general, despite some minor deficiencies, the AMA data were shown to be highly reliable.