In case you missed it: the 'Partners effect,' social networks and drug trials

In the Sunday Globe:

Call it the best-kept secret in Massachusetts medicine: Health insurance companies pay a handful of hospitals far more for the same work even when there is no evidence that the higher-priced care produces healthier patients, the Globe Spotlight Team reports. In fact, sometimes the opposite is true: Massachusetts General Hospital, for example, earns 15 percent more than Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for treating heart-failure patients even though government figures show that Beth Israel has for years reported lower patient death rates.

When Italian researchers published a small study in February saying that lithium, a medication used to treat bipolar disorder, appeared to slow the progression of Lou Gehrig's disease, others with the devastating neurodegenerative disorder began to try it themselves. More than 200 of them went a step further, using the Internet to report the progress of their disease while taking the drug. The result is an online clinical trial of sorts, not one conducted by doctors at prestigious hospitals according to rules intended to ensure scientific rigor and patient safety, but by ordinary people who want others to benefit from their experience.