Setting physicians' prices in FFS medicare: an economic perspective.
Recent policy discussions by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) regarding physician prices in the traditional fee-for-service (FFS) Medicare Program reflect movement toward a market pricing model. Earlier objectives such as sustainable levels of spending have given way to concerns over the relationship between fees and actual costs, access to care, and the importance of demand and supply in local markets. An important objective in other policy settings is economically efficient distribution of services. We explain the meaning of economic efficiency for Medicare physician prices and explore difficulties one might encounter in pursuing economic efficiency, as well as the cost of not pursuing it.
Dowd
Bryan
B
Division of Health, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 55455, USA. dowdx001@umn.edu
Feldman
Roger
R
Nyman
John
J
Town
Bob
B
D018588:Fee-for-Service Plans; D005249:Fees and Charges; D006278:Medicare; D020406:Medicare Payment Advisory Commission; D010820:Physicians / Q000191:economics*; D011050:Policy Making; D014481:United States