Spending per Medicare Beneficiary Is Higher in Hospital‐Owned Small‐ and Medium‐Sized Physician Practices. (21st September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Pesko, Michael F.; Ryan, Andrew M.; Shortell, Stephen M.; Copeland, Kennon R.; Ramsay, Patricia P.; Sun, Xuming; Mendelsohn, Jayme L.; Rittenhouse, Diane R.; Casalino, Lawrence P.
• Is Part Of: Health services research. Volume 53:Number 4(2018)
• Page Start: 2133
• Page End: 2146
• Publication Date: 2017-09-21
• Subjects: Ambulatory/outpatient care -- health care organizations and systems -- ownership/governance; Medical care -- Periodicals; Medical care -- Evaluation -- Periodicals; Hospital care -- Periodicals; Health services administration -- Periodicals; 362
• DOI: 10.1111/1475-6773.12765
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0017-9124

Abstract

Abstract : Objective: To examine the relationship of physician versus hospital ownership of small‐ and medium‐sized practices with spending and utilization of care. Data Source/Study Setting/Data Collection: Survey data for 1, 045 primary care‐based practices of 1–19 physicians linked to Medicare claims data for 2008 for 282, 372 beneficiaries attributed to the 3, 010 physicians in these practices. Study Design: We used generalized linear models to estimate the associations between practice characteristics and outcomes (emergency department visits, index admissions, readmissions, and spending). Principal Findings: Beneficiaries linked to hospital‐owned practices had 7.3 percent more emergency department visits and 6.4 percent higher total spending compared to beneficiaries linked to physician‐owned practices. Conclusions: Physician practices are increasingly being purchased by hospitals. This may result in higher total spending on care.