Abstract: A method for identifying variation in treatment costs by treating physician, for improving healthcare decisions, including decisions to support bundled payments. The method includes receiving a plurality of disparate medical episode data inputs and provides rules for filtering, merging and enhancing medical episode data inputs, and then statistically predicting how a treating physician's cost compares to other physicians' costs for the same type of medical episode at the same facility. The results may be applied by healthcare systems to realize fiscal, operational and resource efficiencies in a bundled payment system.

Abstract: An apparatus for making coffee or other hot drinks from finely divided material and hot water including a space for receiving the water and the material, a filter and a discharge conduit positioned below the filter. A source of gas under pressure is connected to the discharge conduit such that during a selected time the mixture of water and material inside the space can be agitated from below in counterflow to the natural flow of the extract.