Trends in Medicare enrollee use of physician and supplier services, 1983-86

Beginning in 1984, the long-term trend of increasing utilization of inpatient hospital care by Medicare enrollees was reversed. As Medicare patients increasingly received care in outpatient hospital facilities, ambulatory surgical centers, and physicians' offices, the structure of charges for physicians' services changed significantly. Medical services by physicians in inpatient hospitals declined rapidly. Surgical care for less life-threatening illnesses, such as eye conditions, moved from inpatient hospitals to outpatient facilities and physicians' offices. The decline in the proportion of physicians' charges derived from inpatient care was offset primarily by the increased proportion derived from physician care in outpatient facilities, mostly for surgery.