Low-value Care

Southern and for-profit hospitals more frequently deliver unnecessary tests and procedures: analysis

Abstract: Overuse of unnecessary healthcare services was most common among for-profit hospitals, nonteaching hospitals and those located in the southern U.S., according to a new review of Medicare claims conducted by the Lown Institute. The study found more than 1.3 million low-value tests and procedures delivered by 3,351 U.S. hospitals between Jan. 1, 2015, and Dec. 31, 2017—a rate of one such unnecessary service delivered to an older adult every 80 seconds.

Publication: Fierce Healthcare

Date Published: May 5, 2021

Author(s): Dave Muoio

View This Resource

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.