Use and cost of hospital outpatient services under Medicare, 1985

Presented in this article are program data on the use and cost of hospital outpatient (HOP) services rendered to aged and disabled Medicare beneficiaries during calendar year 1985. Trend data are also presented for calendar years 1974-85. The data shown in this article focus on charges, reimbursements, and reimbursements per enrollee as a means of measuring the cost of HOP services. The data provide information to help identify trends and patterns of care for monitoring the Medicare HOP benefit and for evaluating the impact of the inpatient hospital prospective payment system (PPS) on the use and cost of HOP services.