Healthcare overuse is an equity issue, physicians group says

In a decade of aiming to reduce overuse in healthcare, a group of internal medicine physicians  found that overuse is prevalent in racial and ethnic minority groups, leading to what it called a "possible double jeopardy."

"(L)ong understood to be at risk of receiving less effective care, [minority groups] also appear often to be often at risk of receiving more ineffective care," members of the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation wrote in a June 24 article in JAMA Health Forum.

Choosing Wisely was formed in 2012 when the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation parted with nine physician societies to announce 45 clinical recommendations that discouraged unnecessary care, according to a June 24 article published in JAMA Health Forum. The campaign now has 80 clinical partners and has issued more than 600 recommendations. 

Because high healthcare costs substantially impede access, patients with lower incomes from all racial and ethnic groups also are particularly vulnerable to financial harm from unnecessary care, the members said in the report. 

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