Program to stop bad medicine at risk after government pulls funding

Description

A major initiative to stop doctors performing expensive but useless or risky procedures is under threat after the federal government pulled funding.

The possible closure comes as debate rages over whether the program, called Choosing Wisely, managed to achieve its goals, or became little more than a forum for medical professionals to snipe at each other.

Choosing Wisely launched in Australia in 2015 as part of a global campaign to stop “low-value” tests and treatments that are expensive and do not work well. Medical societies were asked to publicly name low-value treatments so doctors and patients could avoid them.

Royal Australian College of GPs spokesman Professor Mark Morgan said that without Choosing Wisely, “the march towards low-value care might have been faster”

Subject

Healthcare delivery

Avoiding low value care

National programs