Report blames physicians for rising healthcare costs

A new report concludes that physician referral patterns and a propensity to order tests and write prescriptions for more expensive medications act as a major driver of rising healthcare costs. The research, from a Dartmouth University team that has published extensively over the years about practice variation, appears in this week's issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. The authors noted that doctors in different regions treated similar patients differently but also stated that physician decisions do not account for all variations in healthcare spending. Patients also have some influence.

- see this press release from Dartmouth

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