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The European Journal of Health Economics
Published in: The European Journal of Health Economics 6/2014

01-07-2014 | Original Paper

Association between fee-for-service expenditures and morbidity burden in primary care

Authors: Troels Kristensen, Kim Rose Olsen, Henrik Schroll, Janus Laust Thomsen, Anders Halling

Published in: The European Journal of Health Economics | Issue 6/2014

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Abstract

Background

In primary care, fee-for-services (FFS) tariffs are often based on political negotiation rather than costing systems. The potential for comprehensive measures of patient morbidity to explain variation in negotiated FFS expenditures has not previously been examined.

Objectives

To examine the relative explanatory power of morbidity measures and related general practice (GP) clinic characteristics in explaining variation in politically negotiated FFS expenditures.

Methods

We applied a multilevel approach to consider factors that explain FFS expenditures among patients and GP clinics. We used patient morbidity characteristics such as diagnostic markers, multimorbidity casemix adjustment based on resource utilisation bands (RUB) and related GP clinic characteristics for the year 2010. Our sample included 139,527 patients visiting GP clinics.

Results

Out of the individual expenditures, 31.6 % were explained by age, gender and RUB, and around 18 % were explained by RUB. Expenditures increased progressively with the degree of resource use (RUB0–RUB5). Adding more patient-specific morbidity measures increased the explanatory power to 44 %; 3.8–9.4 % of the variation in expenditures was related to the GP clinic in which the patient was treated.

Conclusions

Morbidity measures were significant patient-related FFS expenditure drivers. The association between FFS expenditure and morbidity burden appears to be at the same level as similar studies in the hospital sector, where fees are based on average costing. However, our results indicate that there may be room for improvement of the association between politically negotiated FFS expenditures and morbidity in primary care.
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Metadata
Title
Association between fee-for-service expenditures and morbidity burden in primary care
Authors
Troels Kristensen
Kim Rose Olsen
Henrik Schroll
Janus Laust Thomsen
Anders Halling
Publication date
01-07-2014
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
The European Journal of Health Economics / Issue 6/2014
Print ISSN: 1618-7598
Electronic ISSN: 1618-7601
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-013-0499-7

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