Higher fees paid to US physicians drive higher spending for physician services compared to other countries

Health Affairs

Volumn 30, Issue 9, 2011, Pages 1647-1656

  Laugesen, Miriam J ^a   Glied, Sherry A ^a  

^a Columbia University ^*  (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; AUSTRALIA; CANADA; FEE; FRANCE; GERMANY; GOVERNMENT; HEALTH CARE COST; HEALTH VISITOR; HIP ARTHROPLASTY; HOSPITAL CHARGE; HUMAN; MEDICAL EDUCATION; MEDICAL PRACTICE; MEDICAL SCHOOL; ORTHOPEDIC SPECIALIST; ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON; ORTHOPEDICS; PHYSICIAN; PHYSICIAN INCOME; PRIMARY HEALTH CARE; PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE; REIMBURSEMENT; UNITED KINGDOM; UNITED STATES;

FEES AND CHARGES; HEALTH EXPENDITURES; HUMANS; INTERNATIONALITY; PHYSICIANS; UNITED STATES;

EID: 82955216655     PISSN: 02782715     EISSN: 15445208     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2010.0204     Document Type: Article

References (22)

1. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD. StatExtracts [database on the Internet]. Paris: OECD; 2011 [cited 2011 Aug 4]. Available from: http://stats.oecd.org.
2. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD health data 2010: statistics and indicators for 30 countries. Paris: OECD; 2010.
3. Garber AM, Skinner J. Is American health care uniquely inefficient? J Econ Perspect. 2008;22(4):27-50.
4. Anderson GF, Reinhardt UE, Hussey PS, Petrosyan V. It's the prices, stupid: why the United States is so different from other countries. Health Aff (Millwood). 2003;22(3):89-105.
5. Bodenheimer T, Berenson RA, Rudolf P. The primary care-specialty income gap: why it matters. Ann Intern Med. 2007;146(4):301-6.
6. Pauly MV. US health care costs: the untold true story. Health Aff (Millwood). 1993;12(3):152-9.
7. Fuchs VR, Hahn JS. How does Canada do it? A comparison of expenditures for physicians' services in the United States and Canada. N Engl J Med. 1990;323(13):884-90.
8. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Health data, 2008. Paris: OECD; 2008.
9. Bindman AB, Forrest CB, Britt H, Crampton P, Majeed A. Diagnostic scope of and exposure to primary care physicians in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Br Med J. 2007;334(7606):1261.
10. Donelan K, Blendon RJ, Schoen C, Davis K, Binns K. The cost of health system change: public discontent in five nations. Health Aff (Millwood). 1999;18(3):206-16.
11. To access the Appendix, click on the Appendix link in the box to the right of the article online.
12. Wood M. Most GPs plan to raise private fees. The Age. 2004 Oct 31.
13. Private General Practice Services. Practice fees to August 1 2009 [Internet]. Leicester (UK): Private General Practice Services; 2009 [cited 2011 Aug 4]. Available from: http://www.privategp.com/fees.
14. Ginsburg PB. Wide variation in hospital and physician payment rates evidence of provider market power. Washington (DC): Center for Studying Health System Change; 2010 Nov 16. (Research Briefs).
15. A more appropriate measure would be physician services rendered per physician, but these data are not available.
16. Department of Education. Table 320: average undergraduate tuition and fees and room and board rates [Internet]. Washington (DC): National Center for Education Statistics; 2007 [cited 2011 Aug 4]. Available from: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d07/tables/dt07_320.asp.
17. Association of American Medical Colleges. Table 1: US medical schools, tuition and student fees- first year students, 2009-2010 and 2008-2009 [Internet]. Washington (DC): AAMC; 2010 [cited 2011 Aug 4]. Available from: http://services.aamc.org/tsfreports/report_median.cfm?year_of_study=2010.
18. Association of American Medical Colleges. Medical student education: costs, debt, and loan repayment facts [Internet].Washington (DC): AAMC; 2009 Oct [cited 2011 Aug 4]. Available from: http://www.aamc.org/download/48760/data/debtfactcard.pdf.
19. Glied S, Prabhu AG, Edelman N. The cost of primary care doctors. Forum Health Econ Policy. 2009;12(1).
20. The annual payment required to pay off tuition costs is calculated using the standard amortization formula, available online at http://www.amortizationformula.org.
21. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Growing unequal: income distribution and poverty in the OECD. Paris: OECD; 2008.
22. Cutler DM, Ly DP. The (paper) work of medicine: understanding international medical costs. J Econ Perspect. 2011;25(2):3-25.