Assessment of Overuse of Medical Tests and Treatments at US Hospitals Using Medicare Claims.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Overuse of health care services exposes patients to unnecessary risk of harm and costs. Distinguishing patterns of overuse among hospitals requires hospital-level measures across multiple services.

Objective

To describe characteristics of hospitals associated with overuse of health care services in the US.

Design, setting, and participants

This retrospective cross-sectional analysis used Medicare fee-for-service claims data for beneficiaries older than 65 years from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2017, with a lookback of 1 year. Inpatient and outpatient services were included, and services offered at specialty and federal hospitals were excluded. Patients were from hospitals with the capacity (based on a claims filter developed for this study) to perform

SUBMITTER: Chalmers K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8080218 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature