Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality shows dramatic increases in outpatient complete mastectomies in five States. In Colorado, for instance, outpatient complete mastectomies jumped from under 1 percent in 1990 to 22 percent in 1996. Claudia Steiner, M.D., M.P.H., of AHRQ’s Center for Organization and Delivery Studies, and her colleagues Caroline Case, M.D., of Georgetown University, and M...

This paper investigates the determinants of regional variations in outpatient antibiotic consumption using Swiss data. The analysis contributes to the debate on appropriate antibiotic use by improving the understanding of its determinants, and may help to define more effective health care policies to reduce the resistance phenomenon. Findings suggest that Switzerland exhibits relatively low lev...