Value indicates a fair return or benefit for a given cost (monetary, pain and suffering, etc). The cost of healthcare may be increased unnecessarily if care of little benefit is delivered.
Criteria for low-value care - one or more of the following:
(1) care with no or minimal clinical benefit (unnecessary care; overtreatment)
(2) care with low benefit to cost ratio (disproportionately expensive)
(3) care with low benefit to risk ratio (disproportionate harm), leading to higher costs
Pitfalls in measuring low-value care:
(1) judging merit retrospectively when all outcomes are known
(2) serving to drive changes in coding or recording of diagnosis to justify a course of action
(3) matters of perspective (who is judging and why)
Other aspects:
(1) selection of a type of care when a better alternative is present
(2) futility of care
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