Taking Action on Overuse | A Framework for Change

In health care, more is not always better.
We know what to do less of, but how?

Taking Action on Overuse offers the roadmap.

Unnecessary diagnostic tests, treatments or hospitalizations can drive up health care costs, and in some cases, actually harm patients. Reducing this low-value care requires that health care organizations actively engage in the challenging work of sustained culture, organizational and behavior change.

About

Taking Action on Overuse is an evolving framework for health care organizations to engage their care teams in reducing low-value, unnecessary care and make those efforts last. It identifies evidence-based strategies for obtaining buy-in, motivating behavior changes, and providing the necessary support and infrastructure for health care providers to engage and lead their peers in making the changes that improve the value of health care.

Stories & Updates

Follow what we learn about implementing the Taking Action on Overuse Framework. Check in for updates on our research and resources we’re finding useful.

What does “care teams taking ownership” look like?

The ultimate goal of the Taking Action on Overuse framework is to help your organization build a culture where care teams take ownership for reducing low value care. But what does this look like? Our research of medical overuse reduction efforts across the country revealed common indicators of success that

Top 10 strategies to promote sense-making conversations about reducing medical overuse

Set aside time and space for discussions about overuse

1. Devote a medical staff case conference, morbidity & mortality conference or medical grand rounds to a specific example of how overuse led to patient harm

2. Incorporate stories and strategies for reducing overuse into existing staff meetings, nursing rounds or

Why are sense-making conversations at the heart of our framework?

Reducing medical overuse is a long-term proposition. It requires us to challenge our long-held beliefs and practices regarding tests, medications and treatments, and discuss their potential for harm. It involves examining trusted, reliable data about overused services and making sense of the story they tell. And it necessitates new approaches to what were once

In health care, more is not always better. We know what to do less of, but how?