Clearly not, as the speaker/writer did not use it."Proponents of the bills contend that doctors tend to increase referrals to medical services in which they have a financial interest, thereby driving up medical costs"
According to the answer to first post, would "the number of" be necessary between "increase" and "referrals"?
How do I know when to put "the number of" in the "increase ____ (some count noun)" clause?
It's not a matter of being grammatically wrong; it's more a matter of style. There are those who agree with Bennevis, "You cannot increase referrals. But you can increase their number". On the other hand, there are over 400 citations in the Google Books Corpus.Then, "increase referrals" is grammatically wrong?
Then, "increase referrals" is grammatically wrong?
Have you you thought about googling "Google Books Corpus"?What is the complete web address for Google Books Corpus?
Read what it says there!Is Google Books Corpus a school? It gives some ending in ".edu".