Slowly but surely, health care reform.....

Nine medical specialty boards – American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Cardiology and others – have identified 45 common tests and procedures that should be used less often by doctors, and questioned by patients if their doctors order the tests. The New York Times reports that eight other specialty boards are getting ready to name other procedures that should be done less often.

The NYT piece on April 4 says "The recommendations represent an unusually frank acknowledgement by physicians that many profitable tests and procedures are performed unnecessarily and may harm patients. By some estimates, unnecessary treatment constitutes one-third of medical spending in the United States."

Now, this very healthy move to minimize use of some expensive tests—often tests that aren't vital for the patient—wasn't directly mandated by the health care reform legislation approved by President Obama and mostly Democratic legislators.

On the other hand, let's agree that the passage of the sweeping health care improvements has stimulated health care providers to start looking more seriously about ways to improve health care for Americans and reduce the costs.




Bravo to President Obama, members of congress who supported the health care reforms, and to the health care professionals who are taking positive steps to make high quality health care affordable for all of us.