DOs vs. MDs: Do patient outcomes favor a side?

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By The DO Staff

11.21.24

Does a surgeon’s undergraduate medical training impact patient outcomes? That is the question that researchers set out to answer when they conducted a study that was published in JAMA in October. The study examined patients’ health and wellbeing after surgery performed by DO and MD surgeons. It used Medicare claims data from 2016 to 2019, and it found no statistically significant differences in mortality, readmissions or length of stay between patients who underwent common surgical operations with DO vs. MD surgeons.

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