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Medical groups nationally are struggling with reimbursement levels, writes author Suzanne Anderson. Groups effectively dealing with the problem realize the solution is not restricted to the billing office but rather begins prior to providing service and lasts until well after payment is collected.

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Comparisons are made in this article between the Canadian and U.S. health care insurance and delivery systems. Canada has universal, comprehensive, and publicly funded health insurance for medically necessary hospital and physician services. The United States does not. Aggregate health care expenditures for both countries are examined as are those for the hospital and physician services sectors. Policy differences between both systems, including system models, health insurance financing, resource commitment and control, and service limits, are presented. Observations are made regarding two elements of the Canadian model--prospective physician sector and prospective hospital global budgeting--and whether they are transplantable to the United States.

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Intent on recovering "overpayments" to doctors, private insurers are turning to on-site practice audits. Here's a survival guide for these quasi-legal skirmishes.

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As a percentage of the gross national product, expenditures for health care in the United States are considerably larger than in Canada, even though one in seven Americans is uninsured whereas all Canadians have comprehensive health insurance. Among the sectors of health care, the difference in spending is especially large for physicians' services. In 1985, per capita expenditure was $347 in the United States and only $202 (in U.S. dollars) in Canada, a ratio of 1.72. We undertook a quantitative analysis of this ratio. We found that the higher expenditures per capita in the United States are explained entirely by higher fees; the quantity of physicians' services per capita is actually lower in the United States than in Canada. U.S. fees for procedures are more than three times as high as Canadian fees; the difference in fees for evaluation and management services is about 80 percent. Despite the large difference in fees, physicians' net incomes in the United States are only about one-third higher than in Canada. A parallel analysis of Iowa and Manitoba yielded results similar to those for the United States and Canada, except that physicians' net incomes in Iowa are about 60 percent higher than in Manitoba. Updating the analysis to 1987 on the basis of changes in each country between 1985 and 1987 yielded results similar to those obtained for 1985. We suggest that increased use of physicians' services in Canada may result from universal insurance coverage and from encouragement of use by the larger number of physicians who are paid lower fees per service. U.S. physicians' net income is not increased as much as the higher U.S. fees would predict, probably because of greater overhead expenses and the lower workloads of America's procedure-oriented physicians.

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This report examines alternative methods of paying for clinical preventive care services. First, the extent of coverage of preventive health care services in public and private health insurance plans is reviewed. Included in this review are Medicare, Medicaid, health maintenance organizations, and private health insurance plans. Second, four alternative methods for paying for preventive care are discussed. These options are: 1) fee-for-service; 2) a periodic preventive health visit fee; 3) capitation; and 4) a preventive services account. The report concludes with recommendations for constructing an equitable system for increasing access to preventive services. A multi-pronged approach is recommended involving improvements in public and private coverage of these services; development of a periodic preventive health visit fee payment mechanism; initiation of additional research and demonstration efforts designed to determine cost-effectiveness of services and payment approaches; and modifications to the current coding system that would lead to a more appropriate method for reimbursement of preventive care services.

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The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 sets forth the basic parameters for physician payment reform. The program requires the Health Care Financing Administration to (1) set (regulate) all physicians' fees for services delivered under Part B of Medicare commencing January 1, 1992, with a four-year phase-in period, (2) limit the dollar amounts of balance billing by tying those amounts to the regulated rates, and (3) establish "Volume Performance Standard Rates of Increase" (previously known as "Expenditure Targets") as a mechanism for attempting to regulate the quantities of services delivered.

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Beginning with this issue of Physician Executive, members of the Society on Insurance of the American College of Physician Executives will provide an ongoing column for readers on the unique point of view of the health care insurer. The column starts with an offering by the Chairman of the Society on the physician executive's role in resolving the anomalies of the health care payment system.

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The '80s in health care were characterized by reform of Medicare payment for hospital services. The '90s are likely to be characterized by reforms in the manner in which physicians are paid for services to Medicare beneficiaries. In this article, the authors examine the steps that are already under way or proposed for reforms in the payment for physician services under Medicare.

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Cesarean section rates in the United States have increased from 5.5% in 1970 to 24.4% in 1987. This dramatic increase has generated considerable concern, leading to a variety of proposals to control rising use of cesarean section. Six strategies have been adopted or proposed to reduce cesarean section use: (1) education and peer evaluation, (2) external review, (3) public dissemination of cesarean section rates, (4) changes in physician payment, (5) changes in hospital payment, and (6) medical malpractice reform. These strategies differ in their specific assumptions regarding the process of clinical decision making, implications for physician autonomy, and methods of implementation. Educational efforts have been the most widely promoted. Of these, formal programs aimed at modifying practices within individual hospitals appear to be the most successful. However, insufficient research has been conducted to compare conclusively the impact and feasibility of these six strategies, pointing to the need for further study.

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