CHICAGO (Reuters) – Medicare’s move in 2005 to pay doctors to do bladder cancer surgery in their offices rather than in hospitals dramatically raised the number of procedures and overall health costs, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

Hemani said doctors, policyholders and patients should realize that “despite best efforts, there are factors other than just evidence-based medicine that influence how physicians treat patients.”

“One of those factors implied by our study is financial reimbursement,” he said.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society and a member of the Relative Value Update Committee that advises Medicare on physician payments, said when doctors do procedures in their offices, Medicare compensates them for using their equipment.

via Study shows how Medicare rewards MDs for overuse | Reuters.