For the 12 months ending in August 2006, the hospital Producer Price Index was up 4.9% while the physician PPI rose 0.6%. The PPI of the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a family of indexes that measure the average change over time in the prices received by domestic producers of goods and services. PPIs measure price change from the perspective of the seller. This contrasts with other measures, such as the Consumer Price Index, which measures price change from the purchaser’s perspective. Sellers’ and purchasers’ prices can differ due to government subsidies, sales and excise taxes, and distribution costs. More than 8,000 PPIs for individual products and groups of products are released each month. Read the news release.
