New Resources from Consumer Reports Health and Choosing Wisely

Consumer Reports Health and Choosing Wisely have recently released a number of new resources as well as highlighted partner content. Check out the list below.

• One of the Choosing Wisely grantees, MiHIA, did a 27 minute "Ask the Specialist" video on Choosing Wisely, focusing on the five questions and the patient, provider, and employer perspectives of the campaign.
  
• Dr George Lundberg, Chief Medical Officer of CollabRx and Former Editor of JAMA, released a brief video earlier this month about Choosing Wisely. In it, he calls Choosing Wisely a "movement with momentum," and states that most lab and imaging tests do not need to be done. (You'll need to be a Medscape member to view it, but signing up takes less than a minute.)
  
• AARP published a cover story on Choosing Wisely in their March bulletin. It's called "Doctors Say: Skip These Tests." The online version can be found HERE.
  
• AARP also posted a blog called "The Surprising Risks of Antibiotics," in which they mention and point to the new Choosing Wisely antibiotics hub.
  
• Consumer Reports Health has recently released three new consumer-facing brochures for Choosing Wisely:
  -Health Checkups: When You Need Them -- And When You Don't (Society of General Internal Medicine)
  -Treating Osteoarthritis of the Knee: Popular Supplements Don’t Work (American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons) - Additionally, Consumer Reports published a piece on this TOPIC.
  -Dental Fillings that Contain Mercury: Removing them is a bad idea (American College of Medical Toxicology & American Academy of Clinical Toxicology)
  
• The AAFP has created a search tool for Choosing Wisely recommendations
  
• Consumer Health Choices is now the home for a new campaign called "Getting Healthcare Right". This project investigates and explains medical system delivery reforms, with a view toward making them widely accessible and understandable to patients and the public. You can find the link HERE.
  
• ABIMF has released a series of videos featuring leaders from across the health care system talking about the challenges, opportunities and impact of the Choosing Wisely campaign
  -Choosing Wisely: Professionalism in Action
  -Choosing Wisely in Medical Education
  -Choosing Wisely: Inspiring Conversations to Improve Health Care
  -Strengthening Health Care Through Professionalism

Choosing Wisely Phase Three Launched

Choosing Wisely Phase 3 has officially launched with the release of the first three lists:

- The American Medical Directors Association
- The American College of Surgeons
- The Commission on Cancer

Consumer Reports has been reviewing the list and will begin to develop an editorial plan to cover the content. Once Consumer Reports has laid this groundwork, NBCH will begin examining how to include this new information into the Choosing Wisely Employer Toolkit. We invite you (and your members) to review the lists and let NBCH know if you have any thoughts about how best to utilize this information, either in the toolkit or elsewhere.

The full list of all Phase 3 societies  is posted here. Somewhat different from Phases 1 and 2, the recommendation lists are scheduled to be released on a staggered schedule over the next several weeks. We will do our best to continue to highlight the release of new lists through this Newsletter.

Choosing Wisely® Employer Toolkit now available

To make it easier for employers to educate their employees about the importance of talking with their physicians about their medical care, the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH) and Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH) released the Choosing Wisely® Employer Toolkit. 

Developed in collaboration with Consumer Reports and with participation from the Midwest Business Group on Health and the Minnesota Health Action Group, the Toolkit was developed to assist employers in educating their employees about Choosing Wisely®. The program is the ABIM Foundation’s initiative to encourage physicians, patients and other health care stakeholders to think and talk about medical tests and procedures that may be unnecessary, and in some instances can cause harm. 

More than 25 leading medical specialty societies are working with the ABIM Foundation to create recommendations for physician/patient discussion. Consumer Reports leads the consumer-facing communication of the ABIM Foundation’s multi-year initiative by translating the clinical recommendations gathered into insightful tips and free resources for the general public.

The new Toolkit will also distribute a broad array of consumer-focused health resources available from Consumer Reports including patient-education materials based on dozens of topics identified by medical specialty societies for the Choosing Wisely® initiative.

Choosing Wisely releases 90 new tests and treatments to question

Today the Choosing Wisely® campaign released an additional 18 lists of tests or procedures to question, highlighting potentially unnecessary — sometimes harmful — care provided in the United States.

More than 130 tests and procedures to question have been released as part of the ABIM Foundation’s Choosing Wisely® campaign, which aims to spark conversations between patients and physicians about what care is really necessary.

Each specialty society participating in Choosing Wisely identified five specific tests or procedures that are commonly done in their profession, but whose use should be questioned.

In addition to NBCH, coalitions that have joined Choosing Wisely to help disseminate information and educate patients on making wise decisions, include the Midwest Business Group on Health, Minnesota Health Action Group and the Pacific Business Group on Health.

U.S. Physician Groups Identify Commonly Used Tests or Procedures They Say are Often Not Necessary

Nine physician organizations have each identified five tests or procedures that may be overused or unnecessary as part of the Choosing Wisely campaign led by the ABIM Foundation, with Consumer Reports in an effort to improve health care quality and patient safety.

Patient advocates are calling the move a significant step toward improving the quality and safety of health care.

The lists of “Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question” include: