Hospital outpatient services under Medicare, 1987

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Gerontology
• Public Health Policy

Background:

• Medicare beneficiaries, particularly aged and disabled individuals, utilize hospital outpatient services.
• Understanding utilization patterns is crucial for healthcare system planning and resource allocation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present data on hospital outpatient services for Medicare beneficiaries in 1987.
• To analyze trends in these services from 1974 to 1987.
• To provide data for monitoring Medicare hospital outpatient services.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of hospital outpatient covered charges.
• Examination of Medicare program payments (total and per enrollee).
• Trend analysis using data from selected calendar years (1974-1987).

Main Results:

• Data on hospital outpatient services utilization for aged and disabled Medicare beneficiaries in 1987.
• Identified trends in service utilization and associated costs over a 13-year period.
• Provided statistics on total and per enrollee Medicare payments for outpatient care.

Conclusions:

• The data facilitates the identification of trends and patterns in Medicare hospital outpatient care.
• This information is valuable for ongoing monitoring and policy evaluation of services for elderly and disabled populations.
• Understanding historical utilization is key to future healthcare service planning.