Docs Look For Unnecessary Procedures

It is no secret that medical treatment in the US is expensive and costs are only going up. According to experts nearly one-third of the services are wasteful, providing no patient benefit, and in some cases likely proving harmful. While this is discouraging news, the silver lining is that it is therefore possible to dramatically reduce healthcare spending without any harm to quality and access to care. However, it is incredibly difficult to find consensus on just which procedures are unnecessary, and even harder to then convince providers and patients to abandon those services.

The Washington Post recently ran an article about a new initiative driven by physician groups. Choosing Wisely is a partnership of nine specialty groups, led by the American Board of Internal Medicine, who will identify five common procedures from each specialty area that are unnecessary.

Has this been attempted before? Surely. But not on such a large scale and not using this bottom-up approach. Perhaps recommendations from fellow physicians will be regarded more favorably than sanctions handed down from health policy researchers in Washington and perhaps patients will be less likely to cry “rationing!” when insurance companies are not involved in the process. For the sake of our health and our bank accounts, let’s hope this campaign proves successful. 

By: Emily Egan and Steven Valles