Multifactor Productivity in Health Care

The following overview introduces a series of articles that focuses on multifactor productivity (MFP) growth in health care. This edition of the Health Care Financing Review begins with a theoretical discussion of the Medicare Economic Index (MEI) and the conceptual reasons for the MFP adjustment incorporated into the Medicare physician fee schedule (MPFS). The issue then moves on to an exploratory data-driven analysis of MFP growth in physicians' offices, and an evaluation of that exploration. Finally, the edition concludes with an empirically-based analysis of MFP growth in the hospital sector, as well as a study related to Medicare physician payment that looks at the individual contributors to recent growth in relative value units (RVUs).