Changes in the Costs of Treatment of Selected Illnesses, 1971-1981

This study, like two earlier studies by the author, examines the effects of changing medical technologies on medical care costs by comparing the costs of treatment of a number of common illnesses at two points in time, 1971 and 1981. While the earlier studies, covering the periods 1951-1964 and 1964...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical care 1985-12, Vol.23 (12), p.1345-1357
Main Author: Scitovsky, Anne A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Appendicitis
Appendicitis - economics
Biological and medical sciences
Breast cancer
Cardiac Surgical Procedures - economics
Cesarean Section - economics
Clinical Laboratory Techniques - economics
Closing costs
Costs and Cost Analysis - trends
Delivery costs
Diseases
Electrocardiography - economics
Female
Health care costs
Humans
Male
Mastectomy
Medical Laboratory Science - economics
Medical sciences
Medical technology
Miscellaneous
Physical Examination - economics
Physical examinations
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Radiography - economics
Radiotherapy
Radiotherapy - economics
Technology, High-Cost
United States
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Summary:This study, like two earlier studies by the author, examines the effects of changing medical technologies on medical care costs by comparing the costs of treatment of a number of common illnesses at two points in time, 1971 and 1981. While the earlier studies, covering the periods 1951-1964 and 1964-1971, showed that the main cost-raising changes had been a steep rise in the use of relatively low-cost ancillary services, such as laboratory tests and x-rays ("little-ticket" technologies), this study shows that in the period 1971-1981 the use of these technologies hardly changed but that several new and expensive technologies ("big-ticket" technologies) came into use, which raised medical care costs considerably.
ISSN:0025-7079
1537-1948
DOI:10.1097/00005650-198512000-00004