The effect of different attribution rules on individual physician cost profiles.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Some health plans profile physicians on the basis of their relative costs and use these profiles to assign physicians to cost categories. Physician organizations have questioned whether the rules used to attribute costs to a physician affect the cost category to which that physician is assigned.

Objective

To evaluate the effect of 12 different attribution rules on physician cost profiles.

Design

Under each of the 12 attribution rules, a cost profile was created for the physicians in the aggregated claims database and the physicians were assigned to a cost category (high cost, average cost, low cost, or low sample size). The attribution rules differed by unit of analysis, signal for responsibility, number of physicians who can be assigned responsibility, and

SUBMITTER: Mehrotra A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2990946 | biostudies-literature | 2010 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature