Patients with diabetes and cirrhosis are likely to benefit from care by both primary care clinicians (PCPs) and specialists, according to a study involving more than 18,000 individuals.

Participants—all of whom were ≥18 years of age and had both diabetes and cirrhosis—were analyzed according to the mix of physicians who treated them. Investigators looked at a composite of all-cause hospitalization or any decompensation event, as well as these outcomes separately. Among the results:

• Patients who saw specialists with or without a PCP had increased risk of a decompensation event vs those who saw just a PCP.
• However, when controlling for the fact that patients select physicians based on unobserved severity of illness, those who visited both a PCP and specialists had slightly lower odds of experiencing a decompensation event and/or hospitalization than those who saw just a PCP.
• The same was seen when looking at the outcomes separately.