Low-value Care

Worthless back surgeries are a nagging pain for U.S. health care

Abstract: Hospitals performed more than 200,000 unnecessary back surgeries over a three-year period, according to an analysis by the Lown Institute, a health care watchdog group. The useless treatments put patients at risk for complications and cost Medicare about $2 billion, the analysis found. Furthermore, there was a large variation in rates of overuse among individual hospitals, ranging from zero to more than half of procedures.

Publication: Association of Health Care Journalists

Date Published: November 26, 2024

Author(s): Mary Chris Jaklevic

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To eliminate medication overload, serious cultural, educational, and policy changes are needed. This action plan offers recommendations for policymakers, health care institutions, clinicians, and patients across five key categories to reduce harm from multiple medication use. Suggested Citation: Eliminating medication overload: A national action plan. Working Group on Medication Overload. Brookline, MA: The Lown Institute, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46241/LI.YLBW4885

Pharmaceutical marketing is a significant factor in the growing public health crisis of medication overload, which puts millions of older adults at risk of preventable harm and premature death. This issue brief provides recommendations to reduce pharmaceutical industry influence by limiting pharma sales rep visits to clinicians and direct-to-consumer advertising.

This issue brief provides recommendations for clinical practice guidelines and electronic health records that would give clinicians the information they need to appropriately prescribe and deprescribe.