To reduce harmful overmedication, we need to give doctors and patients opportunities to deprescribe. One pharmacy benefit manager has already started providing prescription checkups for their members -- here's how their program is working so far. More
After CMS restricted access to Aduhelm, Biogen and the Alzheimer's Association called the decision discriminatory. Here's why we're skeptical... More
The Medsafer study shows how clinical decision tools can help doctors deprescribe more in the hospital. More
New research from Johns Hopkins evaluates overuse at more than 600 health systems. How do their results compare to those of the Lown Hospitals Index? More
Many cancer patients experience financial toxicity due to the high cost of care -- and low-value services play a role, new study shows. More
How can hospitals and policymakers better measure overuse and reduce overuse in hospitals, and what role can rankings play? On November 3, US News & World Report hosted an event on the topic featuring overuse experts. Watch the video recording to see the full discussion! More
Despite the known risks, dentists still prescribe too many opioids to young adults and teens. How can we reverse this pattern? More
Overuse of antipsychotic medications is a long-standing problem among nursing home residents with dementia. However, a 2012 policy to address the problem may have unintentionally created a new problem of overdiagnosis. More
Does an aspirin a day keep the doctor away? It used to be the conventional wisdom that taking low-dose aspirin helped prevent a first heart attack or stroke. However, the evidence isn't there to back up this practice. More
The Lown Hospitals Index evaluates more than 3,000 hospitals on 12 low-value services. Researchers at the Harvard Medical School and Dartmouth Institute have released a new tool, expanding the measurement of 41 low-value services across hospital and non-hospital settings. More
In Modern Healthcare, Lisa Gillespie reviews the evidence and incentives that drive some hospitals to overuse spinal fusion procedures. She cites research from the Lown Institute in collaboration with Australian academics published this year, which shows that spinal fusions for stenosis and other conditions not backed by strong evidence of effectiveness are associated with poor outcomes. Out of seven low-value procedures, inpatient spinal fusions were affiliated the most with hospital-acquired conditions, adverse patient safety indicators and unplanned hospital admissions after outpatient procedures, their review of Medicare claims from 2016 to 2018 found. “If, on average, this thing doesn’t work, the burden is on you to tell me why for this particular patient, it’s going to work, beyond just a faith-based argument,” said Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute. More
The FDA approved Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm for all people with mild dementia -- but most of this population is at an increased risk of side effects from the drug. More
As orthopedic surgeries have become more prevalent, researchers are taking a closer look at the evidence behind them...or lack thereof. More
A quirk in the electronic health record system means that it's much harder for clinicians to discontinue medications than prescribe them. More
Recent national data are lacking on the prevalence, safety, and prescribers of opioid prescriptions dispensed to children and young adults aged 0 to 21 years. More
This is the second of two articles on reframing the debate about low-benefit treatments. More
Low-value care isn't just wasteful -- it causes real harm to patients. But despite growing evidence that certain services aren't beneficial, low-value care is still common. What can journalists do to bridge the gap between evidence and practice? More
Robot-assisted surgeries have only modest advantages over other approaches, a large analysis found. More
According to a report by the Lown Institute, a nonprofit think tank, 42 percent of all older adults in the US take five or more prescription medications a day. Almost 20 percent take 10 drugs or more, and over the past 20 years, incidences of polypharmacy have tripled across the country. If trends continue, it’s estimated that polypharmacy will lead to nearly 150,000 premature deaths in the US over the next decade, according to the report by the Lown Institute. It will also be responsible for at least 4.6 million hospitalizations in the US between 2020 and 2030, costing around $62 billion, the report predicted. More
This cohort study evaluates the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System scoring of surgeons caring for patients at high social risk to assess whether this implementation is associated with patient access to surgical care. More