Impact of socioeconomic adjustment on physicians' relative cost of care.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ongoing efforts to profile physicians on their relative cost of care have been criticized because they do not account for differences in patients' socioeconomic status (SES). The importance of SES adjustment has not been explored in cost-profiling applications that measure costs using an episode of care framework.

Objectives

We assessed the relationship between SES and episode costs and the impact of adjusting for SES on physicians' relative cost rankings.

Research design

We analyzed claims submitted to 3 Massachusetts commercial health plans during calendar years 2004 and 2005. We grouped patients' care into episodes, attributed episodes to individual physicians, and standardized costs for price differences across plans. We accounted for differences in phy

SUBMITTER: Timbie JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4045113 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature