Document Type : Commentary
Authors
1
Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
2
School of Health Administration, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
3
Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of Calgary and Alberta Health Services, Calgary, AB, Canada
4
Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
5
O’Brien Institute for Public Health, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
Abstract
Low-value care contributes to poor quality of care and wasteful spending in healthcare systems. In Verkerk and colleagues’ recent qualitative study, interviews with low-value care experts from Canada, the United States, and the Netherlands identified a broad range of nationally relevant social, system, and knowledge factors that promote ongoing use of low-value care. These factors highlight the complexity of the problem that is persistent use of low-value care and how it is heavily influenced by public and medical culture as well as healthcare system features. This commentary discusses how these findings integrate within current low-value care and de-implementation literature and uses specific low-value care examples to highlight the importance of considering context, culture, and clinical setting when considering how to apply these factors to future de-implementation initiatives.
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