IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jhecon/v30y2011i3p568-574.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Changing mix of medical care services: Stylized facts and implications for price indexes

Author

Listed:
  • Aizcorbe, Ana
  • Nestoriak, Nicole

Abstract

The utilization of health care services has undergone several important shifts in recent years that have implications for the cost of medical care. We empirically document the presence of these shifts for a broad list of medical conditions and assess the implications for price indexes. Following the earlier literature, we compare the growth of two price measures: one that tracks expenditures for the services actually provided to treat conditions and another that holds the mix of those services fixed over time. Using retrospective claims data for a sample of commercially insured patients, we find that, on average, expenditures to treat diseases rose 11% from 2003Q1 to 2005Q4 and would have risen even faster, 18%, had the mix of services remained fixed at the 2003Q1 levels. This suggests that fixed-basket price indexes, as are used in the official statistics, could overstate true price growth significantly.

Suggested Citation

  • Aizcorbe, Ana & Nestoriak, Nicole, 2011. "Changing mix of medical care services: Stylized facts and implications for price indexes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 568-574, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:30:y:2011:i:3:p:568-574
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167629611000403
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Duggan, Mark, 2005. "Do new prescription drugs pay for themselves?: The case of second-generation antipsychotics," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 1-31, January.
    2. Ana Aizcorbe & Eli Liebman & Sarah Pack & David M. Cutler & Michael E. Chernew & Allison B. Rosen, 2010. "Measuring Health Care Costs of Individuals with Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance in the U.S.: A Comparison of Survey and Claims Data," BEA Working Papers 0066, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    3. Gregory S. Crawford & Matthew Shum, 2005. "Uncertainty and Learning in Pharmaceutical Demand," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 73(4), pages 1137-1173, July.
    4. Richard G. Frank & Thomas G. McGuire & Sharon-Lise Normand, 2006. "Cost-Offsets of New Medications for Treatment of Schizophrenia," NBER Working Papers 12643, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Joseph P. Newhouse, 1992. "Medical Care Costs: How Much Welfare Loss?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(3), pages 3-21, Summer.
    6. Ernst R. Berndt & Alisa B. Busch & Richard G. Frank & Sharon-Lise Normand, 2006. "Real Output in Mental Health Care during the 1990s," NBER Chapters, in: Frontiers in Health Policy Research, Volume 9, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Frank, Richard G. & Berndt, Ernst R. & Busch, Alisa B. & Lehman, Anthony F., 2004. "Quality-constant "prices" for the ongoing treatment of schizophrenia: an exploratory study," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 390-409, July.
    8. David M. Cutler & Mark B. McClellan & Joseph P. Newhouse & Dahlia K. Remler, 2001. "Pricing Heart Attack Treatments," NBER Chapters, in: Medical Care Output and Productivity, pages 305-362, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Ernst R. Berndt & David M. Cutler & Richard Frank & Zvi Griliches & Joseph P. Newhouse & Jack E. Triplett, 2001. "Price Indexes for Medical Care Goods and Services -- An Overview of Measurement Issues," NBER Chapters, in: Medical Care Output and Productivity, pages 141-200, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. David M. Cutler & Mark McClellan & Joseph P. Newhouse & Dahlia Remler, 1998. "Are Medical Prices Declining? Evidence from Heart Attack Treatments," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 991-1024.
    11. David M. Cutler & Ernst R. Berndt, 2001. "Medical Care Output and Productivity," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number cutl01-1.
    12. F. M. Fisher & K. Shell, 1970. "The Pure Theory of the National-Output Deflator," Working papers 59, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
    13. Berndt, Ernst R. & Cutler, David M. & Frank, Richard G. & Griliches, Zvi & Newhouse, Joseph P. & Triplett, Jack E., 2000. "Medical care prices and output," Handbook of Health Economics, in: A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), Handbook of Health Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 3, pages 119-180, Elsevier.
    14. Berndt Ernst R. & Busch Alisa B. & Frank Richard G. & Normand Sharon-Lise, 2006. "Real Output in Mental Health Care during the 1990s," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 9(1), pages 1-19, December.
    15. Irving Shapiro & Matthew D. Shapiro & David Wilcox, 2001. "Measuring the value of Cataract Surgery," NBER Chapters, in: Medical Care Output and Productivity, pages 411-438, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Xue Song & William D. Marder & Robert Houchens & Jonathan E. Conklin & Ralph Bradley, 2009. "Can A Disease-Based Price Index Improve the Estimation of the Medical Consumer Price Index?," NBER Chapters, in: Price Index Concepts and Measurement, pages 329-368, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. A. J. Culyer & J. P. Newhouse (ed.), 2000. "Handbook of Health Economics," Handbook of Health Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 1, number 1.
    18. Ernst R. Berndt & Susan Busch & Richard Frank, 2001. "Treatment Price Indexes for Acute Phase Major Depression," NBER Chapters, in: Medical Care Output and Productivity, pages 463-508, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ana Aizcorbe & Ralph Bradley & Ryan Greenaway-McGrevy & Brad Herauf & Richard Kane & Eli Liebman & Sarah Pack & Lyubov Rozental, 2011. "Alternative Price Indexes for Medical Care: Evidence from the MEPS Survey," BEA Working Papers 0069, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    2. Ruolz Ariste & Kam Yu, 2017. "Comparisons of hospital output in Canada: national and international perspectives," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 433-451, December.
    3. Anne E. Hall, 2015. "Adjusting the Measurement of the Output of the Medical Sector for Quality: A Review of the Literature," BEA Working Papers 0122, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    4. Richard G. Frank & Ernst R. Berndt & Alisa B. Busch, 2003. "Quality-Constant Price Indexes for the Ongoing Treatment of Schizophrenia: An Exploratory Study," NBER Working Papers 10022, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Rowena Jacobs, 2009. "Investigating Patient Outcome Measures in Mental Health," Working Papers 048cherp, Centre for Health Economics, University of York.
    6. Ernst R. Berndt & David M. Cutler & Richard Frank & Zvi Griliches & Joseph P. Newhouse & Jack E. Triplett, 2001. "Price Indexes for Medical Care Goods and Services -- An Overview of Measurement Issues," NBER Chapters, in: Medical Care Output and Productivity, pages 141-200, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Abe Dunn & Eli Liebman & Lindsey Rittmueller & Adam Shapiro, 2014. "Defining Disease Episodes and the Effects on the Components of Expenditure Growth," BEA Working Papers 0108, Bureau of Economic Analysis.
    8. Xue Song & William D. Marder & Robert Houchens & Jonathan E. Conklin & Ralph Bradley, 2009. "Can A Disease-Based Price Index Improve the Estimation of the Medical Consumer Price Index?," NBER Chapters, in: Price Index Concepts and Measurement, pages 329-368, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Abe Dunn & Eli Liebman & Adam Hale Shapiro, 2015. "Implications of Utilization Shifts on Medical‐care Price Measurement," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(5), pages 539-557, May.
    10. Frank, Richard G. & Berndt, Ernst R. & Busch, Alisa B. & Lehman, Anthony F., 2004. "Quality-constant "prices" for the ongoing treatment of schizophrenia: an exploratory study," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 390-409, July.
    11. Dunn, Abe & Shapiro, Adam Hale & Liebman, Eli, 2013. "Geographic variation in commercial medical-care expenditures: A framework for decomposing price and utilization," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1153-1165.
    12. Abe Dunn & Eli Liebman & Adam Hale Shapiro, 2014. "Developing a Framework for Decomposing Medical-Care Expenditure Growth: Exploring Issues of Representativeness," NBER Chapters, in: Measuring Economic Sustainability and Progress, pages 545-574, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Bradley, Ralph, 2013. "Feasible methods to estimate disease based price indexes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 504-514.
    14. Karen Eggleston & Brian K. Chen & Chih-Hung Chen & Ying Isabel Chen & Talitha Feenstra & Toshiaki Iizuka & Janet Tin Kei Lam & Gabriel M. Leung & Jui-fen Rachel Lu & Beatriz Rodriguez-Sanchez & Jeroen, 2020. "Are quality-adjusted medical prices declining for chronic disease? Evidence from diabetes care in four health systems," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(5), pages 689-702, July.
    15. Dauda, Seidu & Dunn, Abe & Hall, Anne, 2022. "A systematic examination of quality-adjusted price index alternatives for medical care using claims data," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    16. David M. Cutler & Kaushik Ghosh & Kassandra Messer & Trivellore Raghunathan & Allison B. Rosen & Susan T. Stewart, 2020. "A Satellite Account for Health in the United States," NBER Working Papers 27848, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Diane Dawson & Hugh Gravelle & Mary O'Mahony & Andrew Street & Martin Weale & Adriana Castelli & Rowena Jacobs & Paul Kind & Pete Loveridge & Stephen Martin & Philip Stevens & Lucy Stokes, 2005. "Developing new approaches to measuring NHS outputs and productivity," Working Papers 006cherp, Centre for Health Economics, University of York, revised Dec 2005.
    18. David E. Lebow & Jeremy B. Rudd, 2003. "Measurement Error in the Consumer Price Index: Where Do We Stand?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 41(1), pages 159-201, March.
    19. David E. Lebow & Jeremy B. Rudd, 2001. "Measurement error in the consumer price index: where do we stand?," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2001-61, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    20. Tina Highfill & Elizabeth Bernstein, 2019. "Using disability adjusted life years to value the treatment of thirty chronic conditions in the U.S. from 1987 to 2010: a proof of concept," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 449-466, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Price Indexes Productivity Health care spending;

    JEL classification:

    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:30:y:2011:i:3:p:568-574. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505560 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.