Although patients' consideration of healthcare costs can help drive lower costs, patients are generally hesitant to do so, according to a study in Health Affairs.

A free teach-back toolkit is available to help healthcare providers ensure patients' understanding from Des Moines-based Iowa Health System.

Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pa., will soon look into the health implications of natural gas production in the state's Marcellus shale thanks to a $1 million grant from the Degenstein Foundation.

The following stories pertain to accountable care organizations, hospital-physician relationships and population health management strategies. All were published within the past month.

More than half of the U.S. population lives in areas served by accountable care organizations, according to new analysis by Oliver Wyman, a consulting firm.

While patient engagement is seen as a promising route to improved quality and lower costs in healthcare, there are several barriers to effective engagement, according to a policy brief in Health Affairs.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has proposed a plan to attract physicians to the state's underserved areas by forgiving medical school debt, according to an Omaha World Herald report.

A free guide on conducting root causes analyses is available from the Department of Veterans Affairs National Center for Patient Safety.

The current method of calculating readmission rates — looking at "all-cause" readmissions — may generate artificially high rates, according to a study in Journal of Neurosurgery.

U.S. states with the highest income inequality have an estimated 40,000 extra readmissions than states with the lowest income inequality, according to a study in the British Medical Journal.