Compared to Distribution

an indicator guage with the arrow in the green the value is in the best half of communities.

an indicator guage with the arrow in the yellow the value is in the 2nd worst quarter of communities.

an indicator guage with the arrow in the red the value is in the worst quarter of communities.

Compared to Target

green circle with white tick inside it meets target; red circle with white cross inside it does not meet target.

Compared to a Single Value

green diamond with downward arrow inside it lower than the comparison value; red diamond with downward arrow inside it higher than the comparison value; blue diamond with downward arrow inside it not statistically different from comparison value.

Trend

green square outline with upward trending arrow inside it green square outline with downward trending arrow inside it non-significant change over time; green square with upward trending arrow inside it green square with downward trending arrow inside it significant change over time; blue square with equals sign no change over time.

Compared to Prior Value

green triangle with upward trending arrow inside it higher than the previous measurement period; green triangle with downward trending arrow inside it lower than the previous measurement period; blue equals sign no statistically different change from previous measurement period.

dark blue chart bars Significantly different than the overall value

light blue chart bars No significant difference with the overall value

gray chart bars No data on significance available

Medicare Healthcare Costs

Measurement Period: 2015

This indicator shows the dollar amount of price-adjusted Medicare reimbursements per enrollee (age-adjusted) and includes Medicare Parts A and B.

Why is this important?

Health care costs are an important indicator of a health system's efficiency and affordability, and these costs must be balanced against the quality of health care provided in order to improve the efficiency of health care delivery. While research has shown that too little or too much spending leads to inferior or substandard health care outcomes, it is unknown what the ideal amount of spending on patients should be.

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