National Physician’s Alliance Identifies Over $5 Billion in Potential Savings

The National Physician’s Alliance has generated “top 5” lists of common clinical activities where quality of care could be improved and, in an article in the Archives of Internal Medicine, those recommendations were estimated to save the health system $6.76 billion each year if implemented.  These lists, covering family practice, internal medicine and pediatrics, include recommedations to use generic statins for the control of cholesterol, not to perform Pap smears on women who have had a routine hysterectomy, and not to prescribe antibiotics for children with a sore throat unless they have tested positive for strep.  The long-term goal of this project is to produce top 5 lists for every specialty in order to “change the culture of medicine by encouraging physicians to make wise clinical decisions and be good stewards of finite clinical resources.”

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“Top 5” Lists Top $5 Billion in Potential Savings