When scheduling a doctor’s appointment, your inclination may be to see the most senior physician you can, with the assumption that those who have practiced the longest have the best knowledge and skills. However, a new study published in the British Medical Journal may just shake up your assumptions. According to this new observational study of US acute care hospitals, patients with older physicians had a higher mortality rate than those cared for by younger physicians- the one exception being older physicians who have a high volume practice. It’s not clear why this is the case, but it may have to do with outdated skills or decreased clinical knowledge in older doctors. Read more about this provocative study Here. And speaking of acute care hospitals, researchers at the Harvard T.S. Chan School of Public Health were surprised to find that older patients have a lower death rate at major academic hospitals than those hospitalized at community, non-teaching hospitals. While this does not mean you should avoid community hospitals, it does suggest that there are practices or protocols at teaching hospitals that could enhance the quality of care at more local, smaller facilities. Read more about this Harvard study Here.