Our Parents, Ourselves: Health Care for an Aging Population; A Report of the Dartmouth Atlas Project

The new Dartmouth Atlas, funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation, is a report card that analyzes Medicare data to show us where the United States is making progress in patient-centered, evidence-based care for Medicare beneficiaries and where improvement is still needed. It also offers insight into regional variations in care.Filling in the gaps in our knowledge about the state of care across the country will help health care providers, health systems, and patients and families work together to improve care for all older adults.This Dartmouth Atlas report looks at a number of measures from Medicare data, including:The number of days older adults spend in contact with the health care system;Use of high-risk medications;Cancer screening rates (and how they compare with recommendations);30-day hospital readmission rates;Annual Wellness Visit (AWV) rates;Late hospice referral; andThe number of days spent in intensive care.The report also offers a historical look at key practices, comparing data from 2003-05 and 2012