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Price Indexes for Medical Care Goods and Services: An Overview of Measurement Issues

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Author Info
Ernst R. Berndt
David M. Cutler
Richard G. Frank
Zvi Griliches
Joseph P. Newhouse
Jack E. Triplett

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Abstract

We review in considerable detail the conceptual and measurement issues that underly construction of medical care price indexes in the U.S., particularly the medical care consumer price indexes (MCPIs) and medical-related producer price indexes (MPPIs). We outline salient features of the medical care marketplace, including the impacts of insurance, moral hazard, principal-agent relationships, technological progress and organizational changes. Since observed data are unlikely to correspond with efficient outcomes, we discuss implications of the failure of transactions data in this market to reveal reliable marginal valuations, and the consequent need to augment traditional transactions data with information based on cost-effectiveness and outcomes studies.

We describe procedures currently used by the BLS in constructing MCPIs and MPPIs, including recent revisions, and then consider alternative notions of medical care output pricing that involve the price or cost of an episode of treatment, rather than prices of fixed bundles of inputs. We outline features of a proposed new experimental price index -- a medical care expenditure price index - that is more suitable for evaluation of medical care cost changes, than are the current MCPIs and MPPIs. We conclude by suggesting future research and measurement issues that are most likely to be fruitful.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Harvard - Institute of Economic Research in its series Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers with number 1851.

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Date of creation: 1998
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Handle: RePEc:fth:harver:1851

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Ernst R. Berndt & Susan H. Busch & Richard G. Frank, 1998. "Price Indexes for Acute Phase Treatment of Depression," NBER Working Papers 6799, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Ernst R. Berndt & Zvi Griliches & Joshua G. Rosett, 1992. "Auditing the Producer Price Index: Micro Evidence From Prescription Pharmaceutical Preparations," NBER Working Papers 4009, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. David M. Cutler & Mark McClellan & Joseph P. Newhouse & Dahlia Remler, 1999. "Pricing Heart Attack Treatments," NBER Working Papers 7089, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Fisher, Franklin M & Griliches, Zvi, 1995. "Aggregate Price Indices, New Goods, and Generics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(1), pages 229-44, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Feldstein, Martin S, 1970. "The Rising Price of Physicians' Services," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 52(2), pages 121-33, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. David M. Cutler & Mark McClellan & Joseph P. Newhouse & Dahlia Remler, 1996. "Are Medical Prices Declining?," NBER Working Papers 5750, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Abraham, Katharine G & Greenlees, John S & Moulton, Brent R, 1998. "Working to Improve the Consumer Price Index," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 27-36, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. 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.
  9. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Iain M. Cockburn & Aslam H. Anis, 1998. "Hedonic Analysis of Arthritis Drugs," NBER Working Papers 6574, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Boskin, Michael J, et al, 1998. "Consumer Prices, the Consumer Price Index, and the Cost of Living," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(1), pages 3-26, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Charles Steindel, 1999. "The impact of reduced inflation estimates on real output and productivity growth," Current Issues in Economics and Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Jun. [Downloadable!]
  2. 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.). [Downloadable!]
  3. Andrew Sharpe, Celeste Bradley, and Hans Messinger, 2007. "The Measurement of Output and Productivity in the Health Care Sector in Canada: An Overview," CSLS Research Reports 2007-06, Centre for the Study of Living Standards. [Downloadable!]
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