Geographic Variation in Value for the Privately Insured Population

Study period: 01/01/11-06/30/12        

Objectives:
A large body of research has documented variation in healthcare spending across geographic areas. Evidence suggests that areas with higher spending do not have systematically better quality of care. Research also documents substantial variation in the utilization of health services.  The magnitude of these findings indicates substantial inefficiencies within the system. Most previous research has focused on variation within the Medicare population. We plan to extend this analysis to the commercially insured population in order to obtain a more complete understanding of the causes and implications of geographic variation. 

Analysis will be conducted utilizing MarketScan Commercial Claims and Encounters database provided by Thomson Reuters Healthcare, Inc. The database consists of employer and health plan claims data capturing medical and prescription drug data for tens of millions of individuals (employee and dependents) annually. Understanding the interplay between Medicare and commercial markets is potentially crucial for successful policy implementation.