PROFILING RESOURCE USE BY PRIMARY-CARE PRACTICES - MANAGED MEDICARE IMPLICATIONS

Variations in elderly Medicare beneficiaries' health service use are e xamined using a 100-percent sample of fee-for-service (FFS) claims dat a from Alabama, Iowa, and Maryland. Provider specialty, group practice type, practice size, and location are found to be significant factors affecting hospital and ambulatory care utilization and cost, after co ntrolling for patient and regional characteristics. These results prov ide insights into utilization and cost expectations from different typ es of primary-care gatekeepers as the Medicare managed care market dev elops.