Journal Club I:

[Goodman] Deyo RA et al, “Trends, Major Medical Complications, and Charges Associated with Surgery for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis in Older Adults,” JAMA April 7, 2010 303(13):1259-1265.

[Yasaitis] Joines JD, et al., “A spatial analysis of county-level variation in hospitalization rates for low back problems in North Carolina.”  Soc Sci Med. Jun 2003;56(12):2541-2553.

[Gottlieb] Gottlieb, D, et al., “Prices Don’t Drive Regional Medicare Spending Variations,” Health Affairs; 2010 29(3): 537-543.

[Barry] Wolf, AMD, et al., “American Cancer Society Guidelines for the Early Detection of Prostate Cancer,: CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, 2010, 60:70-98.[Wunsch] Wunsch H, et al., “Three-Year Outcomes for Medicare Beneficiaries Who Survive Instensive Care”, JAMA;2010 303(9):849-856.

Journal Club II:

[Skukel] Chen LM, et al. “Hospital cost of care, quality of care, and readmission rates: penny wise and pound foolish?” Arch Intern Med.2010;170(4):340-6.
-Katz MH. “Decreasing hospital costs while maintaining quality: can it be done?” Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(4):317-8.
-Ong MK etal. “Looking forward, looking back: assessing variations in hospital.

[Skinner] Horwitz RI, et al., “Can Treatment that is Helpful on Average be Harmful to Some Patients? A Study of the Conflicting Information Needs of Clinical Inquiry and Drug Regulation,” J Clin Epi 49(4) 1996: 395-400.

[Chandra] Chandra, Amitabh, Jonathan Gruber, and Robin McKnight. 2010. “Patient Cost-Sharing and Hospitalization Offsets in the Elderly.” American Economic Review, 100(1): 193–213.

[Bynum] Bynum J, Song Y, Fisher E “Variation in Prostate-Specific Antigen Screening in Men Aged 80 and Older in Fee –for-Service Medicare JAGS 2010;1-7.

[Fisher] Back vs Skinner “The Debate over regional Variation in Health Care Spending”
“Reflections on Geographic Variations in U.S. Health Care”