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Previous Volume 346:1161-1164 April 11, 2002 Number 15 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

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The volume–outcome hypothesis has created a policymaker's dilemma. In 1979, Luft and colleagues¹ reported in the Journal that the number of procedures performed at a hospital (hospital volume) and mortality rates for many surgical procedures were inversely related. Since then, this relation has been documented many times,² fueling a persistent debate about whether health care should be regionalized and certain sorts of complex, elective care restricted to high-volume medical centers.^3,4,5

Two studies reported in this issue of the Journal will undoubtedly fuel this controversy. In the first, Birkmeyer and colleagues⁶ used Medicare claims data from 1994 through 1999 to examine . . . [Full Text of this Article]

References

Related Letters:

Volume and Outcome
Barone J. E., Risucci D. A., Savino J. A., Nallamothu B. K., Saint S., Eagle K. A., Senkowski C. K., Kocs D. M., Rowe A. K., Deming M. S., Bohmer R., Edmondson A., Pisano G., Ghertner J. L., Babson W. W. Jr., Birkmeyer J. D., Finlayson E. V.A., Epstein A. M.
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N Engl J Med 2002; 347:693-696, Aug 29, 2002. Correspondence

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