Study: some Calif. hospitals spend 4x more on the chronically ill, with no gain in quality

A study, Evaluating The Efficiency Of California Providers In Caring For Patients With Chronic Illness, co-authored by CHP/PCOR fellow Laurence C. Baker, released on Nov. 16 as a Health Affairs Web exclusive, finds that some California hospitals spend as much as four times more than others to care for patients with similar chronic illnesses, with no gain in quality or patient satisfaction for those that spend more. In fact, the study found, as the volume of care increased, patient satisfaction and quality of care declined. The study, funded by the California HealthCare Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, allows for direct comparisons of the efficiency of individual hospitals in treating patients with chronic illness based on Medicare claims from a hospital and its physicians. Lead author John E. Wennberg -- director of the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences at Dartmouth Medical School, and founding editor of the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care -- highlighted several of the study findings at his recent talk for the 2005 Eisenberg Legacy Lecture hosted by CHP/PCOR. The findings were covered in articles by the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

• » San Francisco Chronicle article, "More care not always better, study says"
• » Los Angeles Times article, "L.A. leads in costly care for the dying"

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