Physicians' Practice Costs and Income Survey, 1988. Final Report and User'sManual in Two Volumes. Volume 1. Methodology Report

摘要

The 1988 Physicians' Practice Cost and Income Survey (PPCIS) collected detailedcost, revenue and income data for a sample of 3,086 physicians involved in patient care in 1988. These data are utilized in the report to update the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) cost shares used in calculating the Medicare Economic Index (MEI) and the Geographic Practice Cost Index (GPCI). Cost shares were calculated for the national sample, sixteen specialty groups, urban/rural areas, four Census regions, and nine Census Divisions. Statistical tests reveal that cost shares differ across specialties and across geographic areas; however, sensitivity analyses show that these differences are small enough to have trivial effects in computing the MEI and GPCI. Alternative MEI and GPCI values were