Study Finds Overuse of Low-Value Cancer Care Is Physician Driven - New Research Insights

Not all health care services are necessary—or even potentially beneficial. So why do some patients continue to receive non-recommended care? Allison Lipitz-Snyderman and colleagues at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center shed light on this question with a new study of patterns in the use of non-recommended cancer services, supported by a NIHCM research grant. Their JAMA Internal Medicine paper shows that overuse of low-value services is driven by physician preferences with little influence from the particular characteristics of a given patient. NIHCM’s new Research Insights one-pager explains the key takeaways.