Abstract
Objective To compare methods of price measurement in health care markets. Data Sources Truven Health Analytics MarketScan commercial claims. Study Design We constructed medical prices indices using three approaches: (1) a "sentinel" service approach based on a single common service in a specific clinical domain, (2) a market basket approach, and (3) a spending decomposition approach. We constructed indices at the Metropolitan Statistical Area level and estimated correlations between and within them. Principal Findings Price indices using a spending decomposition approach were strongly and positively correlated with indices constructed from broad market baskets of common services (r > 0.95). Prices of single common services exhibited weak to moderate correlations with each other and other measures. Conclusions Market-level price measures that reflect broad sets of services are likely to rank markets similarly. Price indices relying on individual sentinel services may be more appropriate for examining specialty- or service-specific drivers of prices.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 2037-2047 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Health services research |
Volume | 50 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 1 2015 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© Health Research and Educational Trust.
Keywords
- Health care finance
- MarketScan Research Data
- medical price indices
- quantitative methods