ArticleHealth economics review2014
Factors associated with geographic variation in cost per episode of care for three medical conditions.
Article in Health economics review, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- The role of patient and surgeon characteristics on the treatment decision for displaced midshaft clavicle fractures in athletes: a global survey.JSES reviews, reports, and techniques · 2026Article
- Geographic variation in the costs of medical care for people living with HIV in British Columbia, Canada.BMC health services research · 2019Article
- Patient-Sharing Networks of Physicians and Health Care Utilization and Spending Among Medicare Beneficiaries.JAMA internal medicine · 2018Article
- Variation in the Cost of Managing Actinic Keratosis.JAMA dermatology · 2017Article
- Geographic and Age-Based Variations in Medicare Reimbursement Among ASSH Members.Hand (New York, N.Y.) · 2016Article
- Factors Contributing to Variations in Physicians' Use of Evidence at The Point of Care: A Conceptual Model.Journal of general internal medicine · 2015Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo identify associations between market factors, especially relative reimbursement rates, and the probability of surgery and cost per episode for three medical conditions (cataract, benign prostatic neoplasm, and knee degeneration) with multiple treatment options.
methodsWe use 2004-2006 Medicare claims data for elderly beneficiaries from sixty nationally representative communities to estimate multivariate models for the probability of surgery and cost per episode of care as a function local market factors, including Medicare physician reimbursement for surgical versus non-surgical treatment and the availability of primary care and specialty physicians. We used Symmetry's Episode Treatment Groups (ETG) software to group claims into episodes for the three conditions (n = 540,874 episodes).
resultsHigher Medicare reimbursement for surgical episodes and greater availability of the relevant specialists are significantly associated with more surgery and higher cost per episode for all three conditions, while greater availability of primary care physicians is significantly associated with less frequent surgery and lower cost per episode.
conclusionRelative Medicare reimbursement rates for surgical vs. non-surgical treatments and the availability of both primary care physicians and relevant specialists are associated with the likelihood of surgery and cost per episode.
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