"Releasing data showing how much money individual doctors have received for treating Medicare patients could cause public misunderstanding while failing to achieve significant change ... It has long been hoped that learning which doctors are more costly to Medicare would result in consumers and healthcare purchasers steering their business to lower-cost providers. That would mean saving money and reducing overall healthcare spending. However, the carefully couched wording of Medicare's announcement Tuesday provided few details on what information will be released and to whom."  MORE >>