The Revolving Door: A Report on U.S. Hospital Readmissions

A new report from RWJF shows that hospitals and their community allies made little progress from 2008 to 2010 at reducing hospital readmissions for elderly patients. 

The report finds that the chance of readmission after patients leave the hospital varies markedly across regions and hospitals and that overall readmission rates did not decline meaningfully. The findings are based on new Medicare data from the Dartmouth Atlas Project that includes readmission rates for states, hospital referral regions, and more than 3,000 hospitals.

Elective Surgery in the United States: Location Matters

For many conditions, the treatment a patient receives can depend more on physician recommendations than patient preferences. A series of nine regional reports from the Dartmouth Atlas Project suggests that when there is more than one option, where patients live and the clinicians they see also play a decisive role in the treatment they receive.

What Kind of Physician Will You Be?

Medical students typically consider the reputation and training curriculum as well as their own preferences when choosing a residency program. But a new report from the Dartmouth Atlas Project urges fourth-year medical students to also consider how academic medical centers actually deliver care – because it differs dramatically from one institution to the next.

Spending Differences Associated With the Medicare Physician Group Practice Demonstration

New health care delivery models that reward providers for coordinating and improving care hold promise for slowing the cost of treating the sickest, costliest patients in the health care system, according to a study by Dartmouth researchers published in the September 12 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.