Background Paper on Cataract Surgery and Physician Payment Under the Medicare Program

摘要

General pressures to contain the costs of the Medicare program have led Congress and the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) to examine alternative methods of paying for medical services in general and for physician services in particular. Because physicians directly or indirectly control the large majority of medical expenditures, and because medical expenditures are so closely tied to the use of medical technologies, Congress requested the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) to examine alternative methods of paying physicians under the Medicare program, with particular attention to the impact on the use and costs of technology. As part of their study, OTA is examining the impact of alternative payment methods on a variety of specific medical technologies. The background paper is intended to provide OTA a case study of how alternative methods of paying physicians might affect the efficiency, equity, quality of care, and related aspects of the provision of cataract surgery.