Semantics and the $28 Million Unnecessary Test

There’s been an awful lot of Internet hullabaloo about “unnecessary testing” lately. The Choosing Wisely program keeps trying to assert that we should not perform any “unnecessary” tests. Recently, a paper was published in the Journal Academic Emergency Medicine alleging that “overordering of advanced imaging may be a systemic problem” since many emergency physicians believe that such testing is “medically unnecessary.” The paper was based on surveys that were presented to emergency physicians and the work was at least partially funded by the Veterans Administration and the National Institutes of Health — which should be considered a conflict of interest. After all, don’t the entities that pay for the testing stand to gain to gain the most from limiting “unnecessary” testing? But now that the paper has been published, the media has been whipped up into a frenzy, stating that doctors admit they perform “unnecessary” testing and are single-handedly bankrupting our medical system. Consultant Magazine has an article stating that “ordering unnecessary imaging tests ‘may be a systemic problem.’” NewsMax Health states that “97% of ER docs order unneeded tests out of malpractice fears” HealthLeaders Media trumpets that “97% of ED physicians order unnecessary imaging tests” Even Time Magazine has a headline stating that “your doctor likely orders more tests than you actually need.” However, I’d bet my white coat that if you ask...
Source: WhiteCoat's Call Room - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Policy Source Type: blogs