Regional Disparities in U.S. Medicare Expenditures for Gastroenterology Care

Regional disparities in Medicare and overall healthcare expenditures within the U.S. are well documented.

In the current study, researchers assessed the mean per-gastroenterologist Medicare payment across U.S. states. When payments were adjusted for the prevalence of Medicare patients, there was still a 5.6-fold difference between the lowest ($11.44 in Hawaii) and highest payments ($62.15 in the District of Columbia). The five states with the lowest costs were Hawaii, Oregon, Minnesota, Vermont, and New Mexico, where the mean payment per Medicare patient ranged from $11.44 to $14.06. The five states with the highest costs were Mississippi, Florida, New Jersey, the District of Columbia, and Maryland, where the mean payment ranged from $42.79 …