In March 2008, the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academies held a workshop to assist the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) with next steps as it develops plans to produce a satellite health care account. This account, designed to improve its measurement of economic activity in the medical care sector, will benefit health care policy. The purpose of the workshop, summarized in this volume, was to elicit expert guidance on strategies to implement the objectives of the BEA program. The ultimate objectives of the program are to: compile medical care spending information by type of disease-a system more directly useful for measuring health care inputs, outputs, and productivity than current estimates of spending by type of provider; produce a comprehensive set of accounts for health care-sector income, expenditure, and product; develop medical care price and real output measures that will help analysts to break out changes in the delivery of health care from changes in the prices of that care; and coordinate BEA and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) health expenditure statistics.

In March 2008, the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academies held a workshop to assist the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) with next steps as it develops plans to produce a satellite health care account. This account, designed to improve its measurement of economic activity in the medical care sector, will benefit health care policy. The purpose of the workshop, summarized in this volume, was to elicit expert guidance on strategies to implement the objectives of the BEA program. The ultimate objectives of the program are to: compile medical care spending information by type of disease-a system more directly useful for measuring health care inputs, outputs, and productivity than current estimates of spending by type of provider; produce a comprehensive set of accounts for health care-sector income, expenditure, and product; develop medical care price and real output measures that will help analysts to break out changes in the delivery of health care from changes in the prices of that care; and coordinate BEA and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) health expenditure statistics.

It has become trite to observe that increases in health care costs have become unsustainable. How best for policy to address these increases, however, depends in part on the degree to which they represent increases in the real quantity of medical services as opposed to increased unit prices of existing services. And an even more fundamental question is the degree to which the increased spending actually has purchased improved health. Accounting for Health and Health Care addresses both these issues. The government agencies responsible for measuring unit prices for medical services have taken steps in recent years that have greatly improved the accuracy of those measures. Nonetheless, this book has several recommendations aimed at further improving the price indices.

In March 2008, the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academies held a workshop to assist the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) with next steps as it develops plans to produce a satellite health care account. This account, designed to improve its measurement of economic activity in the medical care sector, will benefit health care policy. The purpose of the workshop, summarized in this volume, was to elicit expert guidance on strategies to implement the objectives of the BEA program. The ultimate objectives of the program are to: compile medical care spending information by type of disease-a system more directly useful for measuring health care inputs, outputs, and productivity than current estimates of spending by type of provider; produce a comprehensive set of accounts for health care-sector income, expenditure, and product; develop medical care price and real output measures that will help analysts to break out changes in the delivery of health care from changes in the prices of that care; and coordinate BEA and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) health expenditure statistics.

Health care costs represent a nearly 18% of U.S. gross domestic product and 20% of government spending. While there is detailed information on where these health care dollars are spent, there is much less evidence on how this spending affects health. The research in Measuring and Modeling Health Care Costs seeks to connect our knowledge of expenditures with what we are able to measure of results, probing questions of methodology, changes in the pharmaceutical industry, and the shifting landscape of physician practice. The research in this volume investigates, for example, obesity’s effect on health care spending, the effect of generic pharmaceutical releases on the market, and the disparity between disease-based and population-based spending measures. This vast and varied volume applies a range of economic tools to the analysis of health care and health outcomes. Practical and descriptive, this new volume in the Studies in Income and Wealth series is full of insights relevant to health policy students and specialists alike.

It has become trite to observe that increases in health care costs have become unsustainable. How best for policy to address these increases, however, depends in part on the degree to which they represent increases in the real quantity of medical services as opposed to increased unit prices of existing services. And an even more fundamental question is the degree to which the increased spending actually has purchased improved health. Accounting for Health and Health Care addresses both these issues. The government agencies responsible for measuring unit prices for medical services have taken steps in recent years that have greatly improved the accuracy of those measures. Nonetheless, this book has several recommendations aimed at further improving the price indices.