Conventional wisdom holds that hospitals that perform more of the same procedures offer higher quality of care to patients, but that may not be the case, according to a new study in Applied Health Economics and Health Policy. The analysis of admissions and discharge data between 2000 and 2011 suggests other factors may come into play for a hospital's overall success. "If patients are in need one of these operations, they most likely will rely on advice from their physician on which hospital to get treated at," said Vivian Ho, the study's co-author. She holds a chair in health economics at Rice's Baker Institute for Public Policy and director of the institute's Center for Health and Biosciences. "But physicians who consult the medical literature for guidance on where to send their patients may be getting incomplete information." Read the full article at FierceHealthcare