Floyd SB, et al. - Researchers investigated patients seeking care for a new diagnosis of shoulder osteoarthritis (OA), and assessed the correlation between a patient’s initial physician specialty choice and 1-year surgical and conservative treatment utilization. They identified 572 individuals with a new diagnosis of shoulder OA as well as the specialty of the physician listed as the performing physician on the index shoulder visit using retrospective data from a single large regional health-care system. Among these patients, 83% received care from an orthopedic specialist (OS) and 17% received care from a non-orthopedic physician. Findings revealed that baseline patient age, sex, body mass index, and pain scores did not differ significantly between groups. In addition, patients initiating care with an OS received treatment much more quickly and had higher odds of receiving surgery in the year following their index shoulder visit.