Neither does the system use risk adjustment, which allows for factors affecting success rates, such as a pre-existing illness in a patient.

BBC: Surgery

In our national ranking of 200 metropolitan regions for employer attractiveness, the four-county Syracuse region ranks in the bottom quintile. (See "map") Some of the factors indirectly affecting this ranking are beyond any city's control--such as climate and transportation grids--but one very big one is very much the province of politicians: taxes.

FORBES: Magazine Article

But by affecting these switches in combination, researchers hope that they can modify the risk factors for both diabetes and heart disease--a bona fide blockbuster market in a world where waistlines are expanding and heart disease is at epidemic levels.

FORBES: Bristol Pairing A Big Win For Merck