This issue brief evaluates the effects of a permanent 10 percent increase in Medicare fees for primary care ambulatory visits on Medicare costs. Using a simulation model with real-world parameters, the study found that, in spite of raising the overall cost of primary care visits, such a fee...

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

This working paper examines how value-added models of performance measurement used in education can apply to health care when measuring and rewarding physician performance, particularly in the Medicare system. The paper finds that value-added models used to measure teacher effects on student...

This article reports on a study that exploits cross-sectional variation on copayment structures among firms with a self-insured retiree health plan to measure the impact of the number of copayment tiers on total and enrollee drug payments, number of prescriptions filled, and generic...

Previous efforts by Congress to expand the role of private plans in Medicare have met with limited success. Although the same fate may befall Medicare Advantage, the political environment has changed, and powerful political interests now support Medicare privatization. Only time will tell...