An analysis of carotid artery stenting procedures performed in New York and Florida (2005-2006): Procedure indication, stroke rate, and mortality rate are equivalent for vascular surgeons and non-vascular surgeons

A graphical representation of the method used for the assignment of operator type. Any provider linked to both vascular surgeons (VS) and interventional cardiologist (IC) codes was defined as either VS or IC according to the proportion of VS procedures coded. A threshold of 70% was used for discrimination. If greater than 70% of total recorded procedures were VS procedures, the provider was assigned to VS; conversely, if greater than 70% of total recorded procedures were IC procedures, the provider was assigned to IC. Of 645 unique “Unique Provider Identifier” (UPIs), only four providers were unable to be classified (0.6%). For clarity, a logarithmic scale is used to display the data.