Blog Category: Letters from the Foundation

When the ABIM Foundation launched the Choosing Wisely campaign, we created a set of operating principles for our society partners and gave them guidelines to help them develop their lists. Among these guidelines was a stipulation that recommendations needed to be within the control or purview of that specialty. Each society was asked to take… Read more »

On July 28, my wife’s brother, Marcos, died from cancer at the age of 58. He died at home under hospice care and was heavily sedated over the last weeks of his life. Marcos had undergone two chemotherapy regimens and one experimental treatment. His doctor was exemplary – she provided the best treatment options yet… Read more »

An article in Forbes magazine entitled “Mark Cuban Doesn’t Understand Health Care” highlighted a series of tweets sent out by Mr. Cuban telling his 2.8 million followers to obtain quarterly blood tests in order to “have a baseline of your own personal health.” The Forbes piece focused on the “problems with Cuban’s argument” and included… Read more »

I recently attended a presentation by Mark Bonchek of thinkORBIT where I was inspired to reflect on the past three years of Choosing Wisely® and how the campaign reflects a cultural shift both in society at-large and in the way businesses operate. This shift has roots in self-determination theory, complexity theory, co-creation and digital strategies… Read more »

A recent article challenged the Choosing Wisely recommendations around routine stress testing before low-risk surgeries. The article, “Stress Testing Before Low-Risk Surgery: So Many Recommendations, So Little Overuse” suggested the campaign’s partners focus on services with “high baseline rates of inappropriate care.” In her Editor’s Note in the same issue, Rita Redberg, MD, called for… Read more »