Did you know Nevada has higher spending per Medicare beneficiary …

By Jon Ralston (contact)

Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Did you know Nevada has higher spending per Medicare beneficiary than most states but has the third-lowest quality of care (only Louisiana and Mississippi are lower)? That’s the finding of a study conducted by Dartmouth Medical School and published last week in The New York Times. Nevada has average spending of $8,714, but money apparently doesn’t buy quality here. From the Times: “Researchers ... have found huge geographic variations in Medicare spending per beneficiary, but areas that spend the most do not always produce better quality of care. Some point to the disparity as evidence of inefficiency; others say higher spending often reflects higher cost of living and sicker population.” What could it be here?