It's an issue that affects almost everyone.
Thursday, community, business and healthcare leaders from across our area gathered to try and find out why so much money is being spent on healthcare, without improved outcomes.
The U of R Medical Center and Excellus BlueCross BlueShield organized the forum.
Experts say there is an under and overuse of services, including doctor visits, immunizations, hospitalizations or even surgical procedures. Such variations lead to rising health care costs.
Leaders say the community needs to work to make care affordable for everyone.
Marty Lustick with Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield says, "We have amazing advances and we can save lives in ways we never have before but at the same time we have issues of patient safety we have issues of people not getting basic care the way we know they should be and we know the affordability of health care is a huge problem and increasing numbers of people who can't afford to access the care."
Variations in care when it comes to back pain, diabetes, and end of life care were the focus Thursday.