Issue Brief Cent Stud Health Syst Change. 1996 Dec(5):1-6.
Virtually every study shows that rates of increase in health care costs have declined throughout the 1990s, but often the bottom-line numbers differ. There are numerous reasons for this disparity, including which data are used and how researchers analyze them. Unfortunately, there is no ideal source of data; the best sources vary widely with regard to accuracy, timeliness, and, most important, whether the information lines up with the questions that are being asked. This Issue Brief provides information about how to understand what the numbers really represent.
几乎每项研究都表明，整个20世纪90年代医疗保健成本的增长率都在下降，但最终数字往往有所不同。造成这种差异的原因有很多，包括使用了哪些数据以及研究人员如何分析这些数据。不幸的是，没有理想的数据来源；最佳来源在准确性、及时性方面差异很大，最重要的是，这些信息是否与所提出的问题相符。本问题简报提供了有关如何理解这些数字真正含义的信息。
