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A Certain HMO Is Attempting to Show the Benefits of Managed

question 45

Multiple Choice

A certain HMO is attempting to show the benefits of managed health care to an insurance company. The HMO believes that certain types of doctors are more cost-effective than others. One theory is that both primary specialty and whether the physician is a foreign or USA medical school
Graduate are an important factors in measuring the cost-effectiveness of physicians. To investigate this, the president obtained independent random samples of 40 HMO physicians, half foreign graduates and half USA graduates, from each of four primary specialties-General Practice (GP) ,
Internal Medicine (IM) , Pediatrics (PED) , and Family Physician (FP) -and recorded the total per-member, per-month charges for each. Thus, information on charges were obtained for a total of $n = 160$ doctors. The sample mean charges for each of the eight categories are shown in the table

$\begin{array}{ccc}\hline \text {Primary Specialty }& \text {Foreign Grad }& \text {USA Grad} \\\hline \text {GP} & 40.10 & 42.50 \\ \text {IM }& 51.80 & 49.50 \\ \text {PED }& 23.60 & 25.40 \\ \text {FP }& 35.60 & 39.40 \\\hline\end{array}$

What type of design was used for this experiment?

Definitions:

Time Inconsistency

The human tendency to systematically misjudge at the present time what will actually end up being desired at a future time.

Behavioral Economists

Economists who study the psychological, cognitive, emotional, cultural, and social factors on the economic decisions of individuals and institutions.

Precommitments

Actions taken ahead of time that make it difficult for the future self to avoid doing what the present self desires. See time inconsistency and self-control problems.

Self-Control Problems

Self-control problems refer to situations where individuals struggle to resist short-term temptations in order to achieve long-term goals, often leading to impulsive behavior.