Objective: To determine whether the gender of women's regular physicia
ns, controlling for physician specialty, is associated with women's re
ceiving key preventive services within recommended intervals. Design:
Cross-sectional, nationally representative women's health telephone su
rvey conducted by Louis Harris and Associates in February and March 19
93 for The Commonwealth Fund. Participants: A total of 2,525 women in
the continental United States, greater than or equal to 18 years old,
including oversamples of African-American and Hispanic women. Main Out
come Measures: Receipt of each of five preventive services (blood pres
sure reading, Pap smear, cholesterol test, clinical breast examination
, and mammogram) within specific periods. Results: Physician gender ma
kes a significant difference for two specialty areas and for three pre
ventive services. Patients of women family or general practitioners ar
e more likely than the patients of men to have received a Pap smear or
a blood cholesterol test within the last 3 years, and the patients of
women internists are more likely to have received a Pap test. Physici
an gender is associated with a higher likelihood of mammography, but t
his finding was limited to patients ages 40-49 of women family or gene
ral practitioners. Physician gender does not affect receipt of blood p
ressure screening or breast examination. Conclusions: Analyses reveal
limited evidence that physician gender affects women's receipt of prev
entive services. Physician specialty appears to be a more powerful pre
dictor of preventive services received. The limited evidence for a phy
sician gender effect, however, is relevant for those women who rely on
a family or general practitioner or an internist for regular care.