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Do patients with AIDS fare better when they have a doctor experienced in the management of HIV infection and its complications? Researchers retrospectively reviewed the courses of 429 patients in a single Seattle HMO who were diagnosed with clinical AIDS between 1984 and 1994. They then sorted the patients' 125 physicians, who were largely generalists or family practitioners, into three levels of HIV expertise.
Over the ten study years, approximately 40% of physicians remained in the "least experience" category (they had little exposure to AIDS during residency and had managed only one HMO AIDS patient subsequently). The other 60% had cared for enough HIV-infected patients during residency and/or practice to qualify for the moderate experien…