A review commissioned by AcademyHealth and published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine reveals those trying to reduce low-value care should expand their considerations to include clinically-relevant measures.
The authors, led by health care researchers from the University of Michigan, the VA Ann Arbor Center for Clinical Management Research and the University of Toronto, looked at more than 100 efforts aimed at reducing low-value care and examined how those efforts were being evaluated. They found a majority focused on the use of a specific test or treatment, while only 41 percent measured what happened when they changed a test or treatment. Further, only about half looked at whether a test or treatment was appropriate for patients.
Read more about the review in a MHealth Lab blog post here.
The AcademyHealth, ABIM Foundation, and Donaghue Foundation Research Community on Low-Value-Care is a professional hub for various stakeholders working to eliminate Low-Value Care. If you are interested in getting plugged in to this network, joining webinars and thematic working groups, hearing about funding opportunities, and participating in a community deeply engaged with the topic, consider joining today.