Updating the Geographic Practice Cost Index: The Practice Expense GPCI. Final Report and Appendices to Final Report

摘要

The Geographic Practice Cost Index (GPCI) is an input price index used to adjust Medicare Fee Schedule payments for geographic variations in physicians' practice costs. The GPCI has three components: physician work, practice expense, and malpractice insurance. The practice expense GPCI, in turn, has three components: nonphysician employee wages; office rent; and supplies, equipment, and miscellaneous inputs. This report analyzes alternatives for updating the current (1992) practice expense GPCI with 1990 Census and other data. We first discuss updating the cost shares used to combine the three components of the practice expense GPCI, then we discuss updating each of the component indices, and finally, the effect of updating on the entire index.