New Medicare and Medicaid Findings from Fox Chase Cancer Center Reported (Practice Arrangement and Medicare Physician Payment in Otolaryngology)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Weekly News -- Investigators discuss new findings in Medicare and Medicaid. According to news reporting from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by VerticalNews journalists, research stated, "Medicare Part B physician payment indicates a cost to Medicare beneficiaries for a physician service and connotes physician clinical productivity. The objective of this study was to determine whether there was an association between practice arrangement and Medicare physician payment. Cross-sectional study."

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Fox Chase Cancer Center, "Medicare provider utilization and payment data. Otolaryngologists from 1 metropolitan area were included as part of a pilot study. A generalized linear model was used to determine the effect of practice-specific variables including patient volumes on physician payment. Of 67 otolaryngologists included, 23 (34%) provided services through an independent practice, while others were employed by 1 of 3 local academic centers. Median payment was $58,895 per physician for the year, although some physicians received substantially higher payments. Reimbursements to faculty at 1 academic department were higher than to those at other institutions or to independent practitioners. After adjustments were made for patient volumes, physician subspecialty, and gender, payments to each faculty at Hospital C were 2 times higher than to those at Hospital A (relative ratio [RR] 2.03; 95% CI, 1.27-3.27; P = .003); 2 times higher than to faculty at Hospital B (RR 2.04; 95% CI, 1.4-2.7; P = .0001); and 1.6 times higher than to independent practitioners (RR 1.6; 95% CI, 1.04-2.7; P = .03). Payments to physicians in the other groups were not significantly different. Differences in reimbursement corresponded to an emphasis on procedures over office visits but not Medicare case mix adjustments for patient discharges from associated institutions."

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: "Variation in the cost of academic otolaryngology care may be subject in part to institutional factors."

For more information on this research see: Practice Arrangement and Medicare Physician Payment in Otolaryngology. Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 2015;152(6):979-987. Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery can be contacted at: Sage Publications Ltd, 1 Olivers Yard, 55 City Road, London EC1Y 1SP, England.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting J. Cracchiolo, Temple Univ Hlth Syst, Fox Chase Canc Center, Dept. of Biostat, Philadelphia, PA 19111, United States. Additional authors for this research include J.A. Ridge, B. Egleston and M. Lango.

Keywords for this news article include: Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, Health Policy, Otolaryngology, Medicare and Medicaid, North and Central America

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