Using Health Care Data to Manage High Flyers

UPDATE, Feb 14 -- The article is now available for free on the New Yorker's web site.

The January 24 New Yorker has a fascinating article by Atul Gawande, "The Hot Spotters." It's about how a couple of innovative doctors have taken a look at patients who are large consumers of medical services and come up with ways to manage their care better so they don't require so many hospitalizations, ER visits, and other costly resources. The article is available, unfortunately behind a pay wall, here. It's worth reading -- if you're someone thinking about service costs, it's useful for ideas; and since we're all taxpayers, it's also an interesting policy discussion.