Attention A T users. To access the menus on this page please perform the following steps.
1. Please switch auto forms mode to off.
2. Hit enter to expand a main menu option (Health, Benefits, etc).
3. To enter and activate the submenu links, hit the down arrow.
You will now be able to tab or arrow up or down through the submenu options to access/activate the submenu links.
Locator
Contact
Search HERC
Search HERC
Health care costs are more expensive in geographic areas that have higher wages (e.g., Boston, San Francisco). Because labor is a major input into the health production function, this geographic variation can confound cost analyses. There are two common ways to control for geographic variation. The first involves including a dummy or indicator variable (fixed effect) for each medical center. The second method involves including the Medicare Wage Index in the analysis. Medicare creates the Wage Index to keep track of labor costs in geographic markets. HERC linked the Medicare Wage Index to VA hospitals using the station (sta3n) and substation (sta6a) identifier.
Learn More
Last updated: April 15, 2024
