In their article published in the August issue of Health Affairs, Ishani Ganguli and coauthors examine where Medicare beneficiaries receive low-value care, "medical services that offer little or no benefit and have potential for harm in specific clinical scenarios."
They find
that 43 percent of low-value services received by Medicare beneficiaries originated from out-of-system clinicians, including 38 percent from specialists.
They also find that recipients of low-value care were more likely to receive low-value medical services out of their attributed system if they were age 75 or older, male, non-Hispanic White, rural dwelling, more medically complex, or experiencing lower continuity of care.
Ganguli and coauthors conclude that policy leaders should make efforts to implement low-value care reduction
interventions.
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