Care by Osteopathic or Allopathic Hospitalists Leads to Similar Outcomes

Historically, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) degrees have been looked upon as less prestigious than Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees, and some MDs considered DOs to be less capable. Now, 10% of all practicing physicians in the U.S. are osteopaths, and the number of osteopathic medical schools continues to grow rapidly. In 2020, one in four U.S. medical students attended an osteopathic medical school.

Given the increasing number of osteopathic physicians, researchers aimed to evaluate whether cost or quality of care differed for patients of osteopathic and allopathic physicians. They reviewed Medicare fee-for-service data from 330,000 patients (mean age, 80) in 2016 through 2019. The primary outcome — 30-day mortality (≈9.5%) — as well as…