NYT notes rising criticism of Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care (used in health care debate)

[Hannah Bell]

An article published in the New York Times Thursday notes the rising volume of criticism by health care professionals of the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care, a study purporting to show that much of the health care service provided by US hospitals is misguided and unnecessary and that major cuts can be made in health care costs without impairing patient care.


Note: here's that link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/health/policy/18dartmouth.html

It cites a recent critique published in the New England Journal of Medicine

& here's the WaPo/Ezra Klein critique of the NYT:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/06/who_is_the_new_york_times_stra.html


The study was touted by the Obama administration as part of its campaign to pass its health care reform legislation, with budget director Peter Orzag citing the study repeatedly to support his claim that up to $700 billion in annual US health care spending is “waste” that could be eliminated without hurting patients.

The World Socialist Web Site has written on the fundamentally fraudulent methodology of the Dartmouth study, which is limited to Medicare patients during the final six months or two years of their lives thus excluding positive outcomes for treatment that extends life for a longer period, and which ignores regional variations in patient illnesses, hospital wage rates and similar costs. (See “The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care study: Shoddy science in support of health care cuts”)...

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/jun2010/dart-j04.shtml


Just want to note for the chorus: WSWS interviewed prominent medical critics of the Dartmouth Atlas AT THE TIME OF THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE ITSELF, NOT AFTER THE FACT & published analyses of it. Something the mainstream media mostly didn't.

Strangely enough, these reputable scientists were willing to be interviewed by a "lying rag" like wsws -- maybe because they couldn't get the time of day from the big papers while the debate was still going on. That's some great reporting, NYT!

http://wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/coop-m02.shtml

http://wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/ong2-m02.shtml

http://wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/dart-m02.shtml

[Hannah Bell]

1. but, you know, it's over now, so who cares? who cares, huh?