We know that wasteful spending is a huge problem in health care. Every year, the United States spends $765 billion annually (about one third of our overall health care dollars) on things that do not make Americans any healthier.
This is both a huge problem, and opportunity. If we could make a dent in unnecessary wasteful spending, cut it in half or even a quarter, it would be a huge reduction in health care costs. And that could happen without harming Americans: we’d be eliminating the care that, by definition, isn’t needed.
But if we’re ever going to make a dent in unnecessary spending, such on unneeded MRIs or too much medication we need to understand why there’s all this wasteful spending happening in the first place.
A new paper in JAMA Oncology tries to clear that up: The study, which examined 5,050 patient-physician encounters, found that — despite doctors’ perceptions — patients aren’t demanding medicine they don’t need.
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Vox