N Engl J Med. 2014 Jan 22. [Epub ahead of print]

Choosing Wisely - The Politics and Economics of Labeling Low-Value Services.

Morden NE, Colla CH, Sequist TD, Rosenthal MB.

Author information

• From the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice (N.E.M., C.H.C.), the Department of Community and Family Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth (N.E.M), and the Norris Cotton Cancer Center, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center (N.E.M., C.H.C.) - all in Lebanon, NH; and the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School (T.D.S.), the Division of General Internal Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital (T.D.S.), Partners Healthcare System (T.D.S.), and the Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health (M.B.R.) - all in Boston.

Abstract

With its Choosing Wisely campaign, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation boldly invited professional societies to own their role as "stewards of finite health care resources."1 Beginning in 2009, the National Physicians Alliance, funded by the ABIM Foundation, guided volunteers from three primary care specialties through the development of "Top Five" lists - specialty-specific enumerations of five achievable practice changes to improve patient health through better treatment choices, reduced risks and, where possible, reduced costs.2 In April 2012, the effort was expanded and launched as the Choosing Wisely campaign, with lists from nine specialty societies and a patient-education . . .