This report, published by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), summarizes a November 17 workshop which explores short- and long-term approaches to assessing and improving value in health care.  The report notes that 20 to 30 percent of the nearly $2.5 trillion the U.S. spent on health care in 2009 may be unnecessary or counterproductive. 

From the report:

With projections of nearly $2.5 trillion on spending for health care in 2009, the U.S. has the highest per capita health care costs of any industrialized nation.  Increasing costs are reducing access to care and constitute an ever heavier burden on employers and consumers. Yet as much as 20 to 30 percent of these costs may be unnecessary, or even counterproductive, to improved health.
 
To facilitate public understanding and discussions of value in health care, including how to measure and increase that value, the Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine held the workshop “Value in Health Care: Accounting for Cost, Quality, Safety, Outcomes, and Innovation” on November 17, 2008. This report summarizes the workshop discussions, which explore approaches to assessing and improving value, as well as near- and long-term strategies to align the system to better promote value.

Full report: http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2009/Value-in-Health-Care-Accounting-for-Cost-Quality-Safety-Outcomes-and-Innovation.aspx 

IOM (2009). Value in health care: accounting for cost, quality, safety, outcomes, and innovation. Yong, P., Olsen, L., McGinnis, J.M.