title: Practice and malpractice expenses in maxillofacial prosthetics.
abstract: Recent changes in Medicare reimbursement methods have made the estimation of specific practice and malpractice expenses in maxillofacial prosthetics more important. New reimbursement models such as the resource-based relative value scale used by Medicare and an increasing number of private carriers require accurate and specialty-specific values for these parameters. The Health Care Financing Administration's estimates of practice expense values in all specialties of medicine are significantly lower than those suspected in maxillofacial prosthetics. There is concern that the assignment of erroneous values in maxillofacial prosthetics could lead to inadequate reimbursement. Because the American Dental Association provides only aggregate specialty values, a survey of the general membership of the Academy of Maxillofacial Prosthetics was undertaken to determine these values more accurately. Practice expense values were found to be significantly higher than those in medicine, whereas malpractice expense values were lower. In addition, practice expense values in the survey were found to be greater than the ADA's aggregate specialty calculations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Restorative Dentistry, University of Detroit Mercy, School of Dentistry, Detroit, Mich., USA.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Wiens
authors.forename: T R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Cowper
mesh_terms: D000571:American Dental Association / Q000191:economics; D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S. / Q000191:economics; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005376:Financial Management / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D007347:Insurance, Dental / Q000191:economics; D007351:Insurance, Liability / Q000191:economics; D008318:Malpractice / Q000191:economics*; D008447:Maxillofacial Prosthesis / Q000191:economics*; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics; D011215:Practice Management, Dental / Q000191:economics* / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D011476:Prosthodontics / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms / Q000191:economics; D015895:Relative Value Scales; D012953:Societies, Dental / Q000191:economics; D014481:United States