Exam 6: Physicians

In the late 20^th century, many methods were used to pay physicians for services rendered. The most popular methods include all the following except payment

Consider the following scenario. A well-established physician is an owner of his own medical practice, has steady clientele, works 35 hours per week, and his income is about $350,000 a year. Recently it was brought to his attention that there is an opportunity to further expand his business, by opening a satellite office in a nearby county. He could earn an additional $50,000 a year by increasing his work hours to 50 hours per week and splitting his week between the two offices. Is it likely he will pursue this additional income? Why, or why not?

A large, economically efficient medical practice will most likely employ non-physician inputs such as lab technicians, sophisticated computer systems, physician assistants, and nurses, in greater numbers than will a smaller medical practice.

If the median income for cosmetic surgeons is more than twice that for all physicians, why aren't there more cosmetic surgeons? (Please include some explanation of the physicians' labor-leisure choice and utility from job choice).

General practitioners pay hospitals a percentage of the revenues they received from patients who stay in the hospital.

The major components of an RBRV calculation are physician work, practice expenses and malpractice insurance.

Medicare payments make up the bulk of physician revenues.

Why might capitation be easier to employ in a younger population than in an older population?

The method of payment to physicians which might cause concern about under provision of medical care is

Much of the differences in physicians' salaries can be explained by the reputation of the medical school from which they graduated.

Asymmetric information in the physician/patient relationship has to do with the fact that a patient generally knows more about personal family background than the physician does.

Amount of required training is the primary determinant of the income potential in any given physician specialty.

Income potential will be higher in those physician specialties where insurance covers most of the charges, with little out-of-pocket cost to the consumer (e.g. surgeries); while income potential will be lower in those physician specialties where patients commonly face copayments and deductibles.

My optometrist remarked that he pays his barber more to cut his hair than he typically earns from one of the major insurance plans for a vision screening. I expect that the licensure for barbers is stricter than that for optometrists.

Discuss why, although direct payments to physicians make up less than the ¼ of all health care expenditures, physicians' effect on health care expenditures is much greater than that.

Give some reasons for and against the idea that paying emergency room physicians a salary might provide an incentive for lower productivity than if they are paid by volume of services performed.

According to the quality hypothesis of licensure, one would expect the degree of licensure to be greater for __________ than __________.

The agency relationship between physicians and patients is due to

Suppose we allocate a budget for flu shots between physicians and licensed physician assistants. Let MBP equal the marginal benefit from physician administering flu shot and MCP equal the marginal cost of physician administering flu shot. Let MBA equal the marginal benefit from physician assistant administering flu shot and MCA equal the marginal cost of physician assistant administering flu shot. -Currently, the MB_P/MC_P < MB_A/MC_A. We can correctly conclude that

Malpractice liability insurance makes up about 10% of gross revenues for most physician practices.