title: Payment areas for physician services.
abstract: An important aspect of the Medicare Fee Schedule is defining payment areas for physician services. This paper analyzes the accuracy of alternative geographic configurations in tracking physician practice input price differences among counties. Tradeoffs among accuracy in accounting for input price variation, number and complexity of payment areas, and payment differences across area boundaries are also discussed.
authors.affiliation: Health Economics Research, Inc., Waltham, MA 02154.
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Pope
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Merrell
mesh_terms: D015982:Bias; D002391:Catchment Area, Health / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005245:Fee Schedules / Q000191:economics*; D005843:Geography; D006801:Humans; D016345:Medicare Part B / Q000191:economics*; D015284:Physician Payment Review Commission; D011365:Professional Practice Location / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States