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Primary care physicians (PCPs) are seen as gatekeepers to reduce spending on low-value health care services, which have been estimated to cost the health care system up to $100 billion annually. A brief research report published in
Annals of Internal Medicine analyzed how much low-value spending is directly related to PCPs services and referral decisions.
Researchers from the American Board of Family Medicine, Harvard, Mount Sinai, and Stanford analyzed Medicare Part B claims between 2007 and 2014 to estimate the share of Medicare beneficiaries low-value spending that was directly related to their PCP s services or referrals. Low-value services were identified using a consensus set of 31 services previously judged to be low-value by national physician societies, Medicare criteria, and clinical guidelines. Such services include imaging for non-specific back pain, PSA screening for men over the age of 75, and arthroscopic surgery for knee ost