Doctors Call for Fewer Tests for Patients

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Nine separate physicians’ groups are calling for medical practitioners to order fewer tests for their patients. According to media reports, “Nine major medical societies, including the American College of Cardiology and the American Society of Clinical Oncology have banded together — representing nearly 375,000 physicians — to promote Choosing Wisely, an initiative aimed at getting doctors to perform 45 commonly used tests and procedures less often and patients to start questioning their doctors about the procedures they’re offered.
In their collective opinion, doctors are ordering unnecessary tests and procedures that don’t provide any benefit to the patient. The NY Times has reported that “some experts say that as much as one-third of our annual $2 trillion in health care spending goes to unneeded tests and hospitalizations, along with unproven and ineffective treatments and heroic but futile end-of-life therapies.”

Holly Haines
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