A permanent repeal of the sustainable growth rate (SGR) as part of a package of other payment reforms can lead to lower health care costs and improved care, according to this Health Affairs article by Mathematica senior fellow James Reschovsky. The article assesses last year's attempt by...

This article investigates nationwide geographic variation in utilization of Medicare-covered services by service category. Variation in the use of home health care and durable medical equipment across sites was the major driver of geographic variation in total service use for Medicare...

A study examining the relationship between hospital characteristics and hospital prices can help inform the debate on controlling health care costs. Compared to other hospitals, high-price hospitals tend to be larger, be major teaching hospitals, belong to systems with large market shares,...

This article investigates nationwide geographic variation in utilization of Medicare-covered services by service category. Variation in the use of home health care and durable medical equipment across sites was the major driver of geographic variation in total service use for Medicare...

A study examining the relationship between hospital characteristics and hospital prices can help inform the debate on controlling health care costs.

The relationship between practice intensity and the quality and outcomes of care has not been studied.

The elderly's immobility is of public policy concern because it may jeopardize both individual and community welfare. Elderly households may face obstacles to moving which either lock them into their current homes or out of suitable alternatives. Only one federal policy (the one-time capital...

This article investigates the use of market incentives to encourage household waste recycling by pricing waste-disposal services according to the quantity of waste generated. We use a natural experiment from an upstate New York county to examine how quantity-based pricing of waste disposal...