QUALITY


“Choosing Wisely” More value, less waste, shared decision making


“Physicians are


uniquely capable of determining what’s best for the patient.”


BY AMY LYNN SORREL


It was supposed to be a catchy way of challenging the medi-


cal profession to step up and lead the charge in reducing waste in the health care system and in defining quality care at the height of the health system reform debate. Each specialty should come up with its own list of the top five diagnostic tests or


treatments that it thinks are overused and have not always shown to benefit patients, wrote family physician and medical ethicist Howard Brody, MD, of The University of Texas Medical Branch Institute for the Medical Humanities, in a 2010 New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) article. Dr. Brody’s article found a receptive audience. In what ultimately became the “Choosing Wisely” (http://choosingwisely.org) campaign, launched this spring, nine


December 2012 TEXAS MEDICINE 25


RON LEVINE / GETTY IMAGES


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68