Price trends in single- and multispecialty physician practices

Effective provision of physician services and the financial performance of physician practices depend on both cost and price. While there has been much discussion and research on the differences among physician organizations, particularly pertaining to cost and efficiency, little attention has been paid to how prices received for services have changed over time. In order to address this void in the literature, we focus on the trends in prices paid for services rendered by two different organizational structures, namely single- and multispecialty physician groups. In particular, we examine the Producer Price Index for each physician group over the period of 1994 to 2010.