Physician utilization and expenditures in a Medicaid population.

The determinants of physician visit utilization and expenditures for the full-year Medicaid enrollees in the State Medicaid household survey portion of the National Medical Care Utilization and Expenditure Survey are analyzed in this article. The regression analyses for the probability of a physician visit, for number of physician visits, and for physician visit expenditures underscore the importance of perceived health status as a determinant of both physician utilization and expenditures. Other important determinants of physician utilization and expenditures were regular source of care, State, enrollment group, sex, and family size.