There has been increasing interest in measuring the productive performance of health care services, since the mid-1980s. This paper reviews this literature and, in particular, the concept and measurement of efficiency and productivity. Concerning measurement, we focus on the use of Data...

Objective. To develop and evaluate alternative methods of adjusting primary medical care capitation payments for variations in relative need for health care among enrolled practice populations. Methods. We developed alternative needs-based capitation formulae and applied them to a sample of...