RWJF Webinar on Overuse and Misuse of Health Care Services References HCFO-Funded Work

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On May 20, 2014, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s State Health and Value Strategies initiative hosted a webinar, “Reducing Overuse and Misuse: State Strategies to Improve Quality and Cost of Health Care.” During the presentation, Megan Burns, Bailit Health Purchasing, referenced findings based in part on HCFO-funded work by Carrie Colla, Ph.D., Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice at the Geisel Medical School, and colleagues, which examined the distribution of targeted services in the Choosing Wisely initiative. While the creation of low-value service lists is an important first step to improving the value of health care, the services identified by medical specialty societies vary widely in terms of their potential impact on care and spending. In her HCFO-funded work, Colla examined the prevalence, variation, and correlates of overuse of Choosing Wisely-designated low-value services in order to lay the ground work for a policy agenda to reduce future utilization and to generate hypotheses about effective payment and insurance reforms to moderate the provision of these services.