Problem
Heart Procedure Is Off the Charts in an Ohio City - The New York.
• What do you think about using small area studies based on large Medicare databases (such as the one presented here) to identify outliers? Evaluate.
• Salaried cardiologists at Kaiser Permanente in northern Ohio used drugs more often and performed cardiac procedures at slightly below the national rate. What role might different financial incentives play here?
• If you were Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio, what studies would you conduct to attempt to explain and/or deal with these striking local differences in treatments and costs? Why? Justify your recommendations.