Since 1996, the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care has been examining patterns of health care delivery and practice across the United States, as well as evaluating the quality of health care Americans receive. The research has revealed striking variations in the amount of health care you are likely to receive depending on where you live. This is true not only across states and regions, but within individual states and cities.

In studying Medicare data over the past decade, Atlas researchers have documented that more care does not necessarily mean better care. In fact, more hospitalizations and more procedures among similar populations resulted in higher mortality than for populations that received more conservative care.

The disparities in care - which can also be seen across ethic groups - obviously harm patients. But they also represent billions of dollars in wasteful and unnecessary spending. Recent editions of the Atlas have shown that the U.S. could lower health care costs substantially if the highest intensity hospitals adopted the practices of the nation's best performing hospitals.

This web site has been designed to provide an easy way for you to find data and reference materials to support your reporting on the crisis of U.S. health care in general and the Dartmouth Atlas in particular. The links provided at left will help you construct your own data sets and compare hospitals, cities, and regions relevant to you. You can also view articles previously written about the Atlas project. For additional information, you can contact Jonathan Osmundsen at Manning Selvage & Lee: (202) 261-2869.

Extensive information about the goals of the project is available by clicking the tab labeled Research Agenda & Findings. Answers to many of your questions may also be available on one of our Frequently Asked Questions pages. A Q&A with Dr. Jack Wennberg is also available for background information.

Just released:
The latest Dartmouth Atlas Project report, Tracking the Care of Patients with Severe Chronic Illness: The Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care 2008, is now available. This edition of the Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care describes how care for Medicare beneficiaries with serious chronic illness varies across U.S. states, regions, and hospitals. As in the 2006 edition (The Care of Patients with Severe Chronic Illness) the focus is on Medicare beneficiaries who had serious chronic illness during the last two years of life.

This edition both updates the earlier analyses to encompass new data (now through 2005) and expands the scope to include all sectors of care covered by the Medicare program, including acute inpatient hospital care, outpatient services, skilled nursing and long-term hospital care, home health care and hospice services. The press release, slides from the release webcast, archived webcast, Executive Summary, and the full report are available.