business
Price growth for physician services dips below overall inflation
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Nov. 26, 2012
The amount of money paid to physicians for a particular service by patients and insurers fell below the rate of inflation in the economy as a whole, according to the monthly report on the Consumer Price Index released Nov. 15 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Overall inflation for October was 0.1% primarily because of growth in the cost of food and housing. It also went up 0.6% in September because of increases in the cost of gasoline. Prices paid for physician services did not go up at all in October and grew by 0.5% in September.
Health care prices historically have grown faster than general inflation, but monthly growth in prices paid for physician services has been lower than the overall Consumer Price Index for four of the 10 months of 2012 for which data are available.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/11/26/bibf1126.htm.
