Low-value Care

Hospitals overuse medical tests and procedures that don’t help patients, analysis finds

Abstract: “Overuse is ubiquitous,” said Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute. “Nearly every hospital is doing at least some things that patients don’t really need.” “There is improvement,” he added, “but it is very slow and it is very uneven.”

Saini, of the Lown Institute, said he hopes more attention on overuse will push hospitals to do better. “We’re trying to create new norms for what it means to be a good hospital,” he said.

Publication: The Boston Globe

Date Published: May 28, 2021

Author(s): Priyanka Dayal McCluskey

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.