The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care

The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care: "variations in spending across regions and hospitals provide evidence of important opportunities to reduce the costs of U.S. health care. ...Patients in high-cost regions have access to the same technology as those in low-cost regions, and those in low-cost regions are not deprived of needed care. On the contrary, the researchers note that care is often better in low-cost areas. The authors argue that the differences in growth are largely due to discretionary decisions by physicians that are influenced by the local availability of hospital beds, imaging centers and other resources-and a payment system that rewards growth and higher utilization. "