The level of uncertainty will depend on several factors: the nature of the functional form used in the multivariate analysis; the type of econometric technique employed; the appropriateness of the statistical assumptions embedded in the model or technique; the comprehensiveness of the variables included in the analysis; and the accuracy of the data that are utilized. [...] The BLS samples the costs of inpatient and outpatient treatments and derives the price index of hospital expenditures as the weighted sum of unit costs of inpatient and outpatient treatments, using their cost shares as weights.8 In Canada, the unit cost (resource intensity weight) represents the relative resource intensity of inpatient and outpatient cases compared with the average inpatient case, [...] Because the RIW for outpatient cases is comparable to the RIW for inpatient cases (Hicks and Zhang 2003), the volume index of inpatient and outpatient cases can be combined to derive the volume index of the output of the hospital sector. [...] The volume index of the hospital sector overall is obtained by aggregating the volume indices of inpatient and outpatient care using their relative cost share as weights.19 The volume index of the hospital sector increased 1.7% per year, which was slower than the increase in the total number of inpatient and outpatient cases (2.8%). [...] The difference between the new estimate and the original estimate provides an assessment of the substitution bias in the cost- weighted activity index of the hospital sector.
Authors
- ISBN
- 9781100235462
- Pages
- 27
- Published in
- Ottawa, Ontario