New AcademyHealth and ABIM Foundation Partnership to Accelerate Research on Reducing Low-Value Care

Washington D.C. — Today, AcademyHealth and the ABIM Foundation announced a new partnership aimed at reducing low-value health care. Central to this work is the creation of a learning community that will convene researchers and other stakeholders from across the health care system to accelerate the development and implementation of timely and relevant research in this area.

There is widespread recognition that overuse is a pressing issue facing the United States health care system, with some estimates suggesting up to one-third of health care spending is wasted. The AcademyHealth and ABIM Foundation Research Community on Low-Value Care aspires to build a collective understanding of ways to reduce the prevalence of low-value care by:

• sharing lessons learned to advance research to reduce low-value care;
• engaging in collective problem solving;
• facilitating the exchange of innovative methods and strategies to reduce low-value care; and
• fostering research partnerships for externally-funded research on low-value care.

“There is a growing awareness that more care doesn’t mean better outcomes, but we lack a robust evidence base about which interventions are effective at reducing overuse” said Lisa Simpson, MD, President and CEO of AcademyHealth. “We are only just learning which strategies, or combination of strategies, are effective at reducing overuse for different patients and conditions. Through the establishment of this learning community we hope to help researchers accelerate their identification of drivers of low-value care so that we can create interventions that ensure patients get the care they truly need.”

The creation of the AcademyHealth and ABIM Foundation Research Community on Low-Value Care stems from two successful multi-stakeholder meetings in 2014 and 2015 that focused attention on the emerging and needed evidence base on low-value care. To build on those learnings, the community will include an online forum, a seven-part webinar series and an in-person meeting to stimulate research development and ultimately inform efforts to reduce overuse in the United States and globally.

“When we launched the Choosing Wisely campaign we set out to start conversations—both at a national level and in the exam room—about avoiding unnecessary care that doesn’t benefit patients,” said Richard J. Baron, MD, President and CEO of the ABIM Foundation. “But we know more work is needed so that we can fully understand the drivers of waste and devise interventions that support clinicians in delivering appropriate care. We look forward to this partnership with AcademyHealth and invite all researchers with an interest in eliminating low-value care to join us in this work.”

To join the Research Community on Low-Value Care, please contact: RC-LVC@academyhealth.org

About AcademyHealth

AcademyHealth is a leading national organization serving the fields of health services and policy research and the professionals who produce and use this important work. Together with our members, we offer programs and services that support the development and use of rigorous, relevant and timely evidence to increase the quality, accessibility, and value of health care, to reduce disparities, and to improve health. A trusted broker of information, AcademyHealth brings stakeholders together to address the current and future needs of an evolving health system, inform health policy, and translate evidence into action

About the ABIM Foundation

The mission of the ABIM Foundation is to advance medical professionalism to improve the health care system. We achieve this by collaborating with physicians and physician leaders, medical trainees, health care delivery systems, payers, policy makers, consumer organizations and patients to foster a shared understanding of professionalism and how they can adopt the tenets of professionalism in practice.

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