"There is considerable controversy about the causes of regional variations in healthcare expenditures.... [The authors] test whether patient demand-side factors, or physician supply-side factors, explains regional variations in Medicare spending.... [P]atient demand is relatively unimportant in explaining variations. Physician organizational factors (such as peer effects) matter, but the single most important factor is physician beliefs about treatment: 36 percent of end-of-life spending, and 17 percent of U.S. health care spending, are associated with physician beliefs unsupported by clinical evidence."

MORE >>