Patients at hospital-based primary clinics are more likely to get unnecessary tests and services

People with back pain, headaches and upper respiratory infections are more likely to receive tests and services of little diagnostic or therapeutic value — so-called low-value care — when they visit primary care clinics at hospitals rather than at community-based primary care clinics.A national study led by researchers at theDavid Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and Harvard Medical School found that the key factor driving the disparity appears to be the location of the clinic, rather than whether the clinic is owned by a hospital or a physician. In fact, aside from referring patients to specialists slightly more often, hospital-owned community clinics delivered care otherwise similar to physician-owned community clinics.Theresearch, published April 10 in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that providers at hospital-based clinics tend to refer too many patients to specialists, and order too many CT scans, MRIs and X-rays. The findings raise concerns about the value of care delivered in hospital-based primary care settings.The paper suggests that physicians working in hospitals may be more likely to refer patients for those types of follow-up because they ’re more immediately accessible and convenient, saidDr. John Mafi, the study ’s lead author, an assistant professor of medicine at the Geffen School of Medicine and a primary care physician at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.“An estimated one-third of health care spending in the United States stems from services that ...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news