Comparative Analysis of Small and Large Group Health Care Utilization and Costs, 1988-1990: [Western Pennsylvania]

To investigate whether the use of health care services is a function of firm size, this project assembled longitudinal data on private health insurance claims for firms located in western Pennsylvania. Parts 1-3 are person-level files for health insurance claims and include variables such as contract relationship (contract holder/employee, spouse/dependent), gender, age (less than or equal to 14 years, 14+), utilization type (hospital inpatient, hospital outpatient, professional, major medical), quarter and year of discharge for hospital inpatient utilization, quarter and year of service for hospital outpatient and professional services utilization, length of stay (high, medium, low), type of professional claim (inpatient, outpatient, office, other), and total and average charges (high, medium, low). Firm-level variables in Parts 4-6 include average age, percent of enrollees under age 14, and firm size as measured by the number of contracts or the average number of employed plan participants in three categories (1-50, 51-500, and 500+). Additional firm-level variables are measured as three-tier indices (high, medium, and low): proportions of enrollees with inpatient, outpatient, professional, and major medical utilization, average charge per day and average length of stay for inpatient utilization, average charge per claim for outpatient utilization and for professional services, and average charges per admission and services for major medical utilization.