Hi, I am recently learning the statistics with python path. I encounter a problem when dealing with the meaning of boxplot project data.
My question is what does the Average Covered Charges, Average Total Payments and Average Medicare Payments really means? My understanding is as follows (I copied some of the information from google)
- Average Covered Charges: the hospital’s average charge for services covered by Medicare for all discharges in the diagnosis related group. (In my own words, it is the price that the hospital charges the patient)
- Average Total Payments: what Medicare actually pays to the provider as well as co-payment and deductible amounts that the beneficiary is responsible for and payments by third parties for coordination of benefits.
- Average Medicare Payments: The average amount that Medicare pays to the provider for Medicare’s. share of the MS-DRG
When searching the internet, my impression is that the definition of average medicare payment is similar to average total payments. What is the difference between the two?
Thanks,
Franklin