Scale Variable Norms

The scale variable norms report the mean and standard deviation of each variable for each peer group and overall. Comparing the values gives some indication of which variables contribute to peer group formation.

For example, the mean for Length of stay for rehabilitation is fairly constant across all three peer groups, meaning that this variable does not contribute to peer group formation. In contrast, Total treatment and rehabilitation costs in thousands and Missing Proportion each provide some insight into peer group membership. Peer group 1 has the highest average cost and the fewest missing values. Peer group 2 has very low costs and a lot of missing values. Peer group 3 has middling costs and missing values.

This organization suggests that peer group 2 is composed of patients who were dead on arrival, thus incurring very little cost and causing all of the treatment and rehabilitation variables to be missing. Peer group 3 likely contains many patients who died during treatment, thus incurring the treatment costs but not the rehabilitation costs and causing the rehabilitation variables to be missing. Peer group 1 is likely composed almost entirely of patients who survived through treatment and rehabilitation, thus incurring the highest costs.

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