Outcome study of substance impaired physicians and physician assistants under contract with North Carolina Physicians Health Program for the period 1995-2000.

The objective of this 6-year retroactive chart review is to compare outcome between chemically dependent physicians and physician assistants under contract with the North Carolina Physicians Health Program (NCPHP). Of 233 physicians 91% had a good outcome, compared to only 59% of 34 physician assistants in this sample (significant by Chi Square method, 99.99% confidence). Fifteen percent of physicians and 37 percent of physician assistants were female with basically the same outcome. Alcohol, followed by opioids, was the predominant substance used by both groups. Most subjects in both groups were between the ages of 30 and 55 with best outcome between the ages of 25-29 and the worst in those over 55. With paucity of data on physician assistants in the literature, the present study may be one of the first to single out this group and compare their recovery rates with those of physicians while receiving similar NCPHP services.