Federal Employees Health Benefits Program : Competition and Other Factors Linked to Wide Variation in Health Care Prices

There is concern about the health care spending (HCS) burden facing the Fed. Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the largest private health insurance program in the U.S. HCS per person varies geographically, & the underlying causes for the spending variation are not known. Understanding market forces & other factors that may influence HCS may contribute to efforts to moderate HCS. This report examines prices & HCS in FEHBP Preferred Provider Org. (PPOs) to determine: the extent to which hospital & physician prices varied geographically: which factors were assoc. with geographic variation in hospital & physician prices: & the extent to which hospital & physician price variation contributed to geographic variation in spending. Charts & tables.Steinwald, A. Bruce is the author of 'Federal Employees Health Benefits Program : Competition and Other Factors Linked to Wide Variation in Health Care Prices', published 2006 under ISBN 9781422304150 and ISBN 1422304159.