Macknin and colleagues followed 125 babies ages 3 to 6 months for eight months. During the period, parents kept a daily log that included their child's temperatures, tooth eruptions, and a checklist of 18 symptoms. All illnesses, medications, and immunizations were also recorded.
relative value unit (RVU) a comparable service measure used by hospitals to permit comparison of the amounts of resources required to perform various services within a single department or between departments.
In other words, even if the number of RVUs assigned to the service is inaccurate or if the ideal adjustments for input price variations are inaccurate, the difference between the actual Medicare fee and the hypothetical fee that more closely approximates the ideal RBRVS fee should still trace the shape of the marginal cost (supply) function.