US Choosing Wisely campaign has had only modest success, study finds

A programme to reduce the use of clinical services that are of little benefit to patients has had only modest success so far, a US study has found. Researchers looked at changes in the frequency of seven services identified in the Choosing Wisely programme as being of minimal benefit.1

Choosing Wisely2 is a physician led initiative to reduce overuse and waste in the US healthcare system. It was launched in 2009 by the National Physicians Alliance and was funded by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Since then, medical and surgical specialty societies have produced more than 70 Choosing Wisely lists with around 400 recommendations aimed at reducing the use of low value services. As much as 30% of US healthcare spending is estimated to go on services that provide little or no clinical benefit to patients. …