The 1987 revision of physician fees in Germany

A revised fee schedule was implemented on October 1, 1987, for German physicians caring for patients covered by the principal statutory sickness funds, replacing one that was perceived to be neither fair nor equitable. The revision was intended to give greater emphasis to the role of the family phys...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Health Affairs 1991, Vol.10 (3), p.147-156
Main Authors: Brenner, G, Rublee, D A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Associations
Budgets
Economics, Medical
Family physicians
Fee Schedules
Fees
Fees & charges
Fees, Medical
Germany
Health care
Health care industry
Health services
Homogeneity
Humans
Income
Income - statistics & numerical data
Income distribution
Income redistribution
Insurance, Physician Services
Laboratories
Medicare
Medicare Part B - economics
Physicians
Public policy
Reimbursement
Services
Specialists
Specialization
Statistical analysis
Studies
Technical services
Trends
United States
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A revised fee schedule was implemented on October 1, 1987, for German physicians caring for patients covered by the principal statutory sickness funds, replacing one that was perceived to be neither fair nor equitable. The revision was intended to give greater emphasis to the role of the family physician and to personal medical services. The redistribution of income between medical specialties following Germany's revision of fees is examined. The data are based on physician claims submitted between the 4th quarters of 1986 and 1987. It is found that fees were shifted from those for laboratory services to those for personal medical services. In addition, no volume offset by physicians to the reduction in point value over the period is found. The income rankings of the top specialties did not change, while there was some significant shifting at the bottom.
ISSN:0278-2715
1544-5208
DOI:10.1377/hlthaff.10.3.147