ArticlePloS one2017
Overtreatment in the United States.
Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 132 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
132 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 335 citations in OpenAlex.
- Flying blind? Recommendations for monitoring of 10 common chronic diseases in guidelines from Germany, England, and Europe - a modified systematic review.BMC medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Guideline Adherence As An Indicator of the Extent of Antithrombotic Overuse and Underuse: A Systematic Review.Global heart · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of Molecular Testing on the Management of Indeterminate Thyroid Nodules Among Western and Asian Countries: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Endocrine pathology · 2021Pooled it
- Development of a Conceptual Map of Negative Consequences for Patients of Overuse of Medical Tests and Treatments.JAMA internal medicine · 2018Pooled it
- Treatments for subacute cough in primary care: systematic review and meta-analyses of randomised clinical trials.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2018Pooled it
- Implementing an audit and feedback cycle to improve adherence to the Choosing Wisely Canada recommendations: clustered randomized trail.BMC primary care · 2022Trial
- Defensive Medical Practice in Dentistry: A Dual-Perspective Cross-Sectional Analysis of Dentists and Patients in Romania.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Comparing clinical decision-making between colposcopists and large language models in cervical dysplasia management: a pilot prospective multicenter study.Archives of gynecology and obstetrics · 2026Article
- Knowledge, attitude, and practice of family physicians about quaternary prevention and related factors in Southeastern Iran: a cross-sectional study.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Adherence With Diagnostic Stewardship Guidance and Sociodemographic Characteristics in the PICU.Hospital pediatrics · 2026Article
- A Simple Primer on Relative Value Units for Surgeons.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2026Article
- Review
- Using ambient AI in clinical consultations: reframing policy around clinical audit and patient safety.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Article
- In-network multidisciplinary digital care improves outcomes in medicare advantage members with musculoskeletal diagnoses.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Article
- Building Real-World Evidence Infrastructure to Improve Health and Healthcare in the United States: Part I-Coordinated Registry Networks and Systemic Coordinated Inter-Organizational Networks.International journal of translational medical research and public health · 2025Article
- Addressing the overuse-underuse paradox in healthcare.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2025Article
- Nationwide incidence of lateral malleolar fracture surgery across 6 European countries: has recent evidence changed clinical practice?Acta orthopaedica · 2025Article
- Development of data-driven clinical pathways: the big data clinical evidence-based pathways.BMJ health & care informatics · 2025Article
- Article
- Evaluating Avoidable Transfers of Pediatric Forearm Fractures to the Emergency Department.Cureus · 2025Article
72 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOvertreatment is a cause of preventable harm and waste in health care. Little is known about clinician perspectives on the problem. In this study, physicians were surveyed on the prevalence, causes, and implications of overtreatment.
methods2,106 physicians from an online community composed of doctors from the American Medical Association (AMA) masterfile participated in a survey. The survey inquired about the extent of overutilization, as well as causes, solutions, and implications for health care. Main outcome measures included: percentage of unnecessary medical care, most commonly cited reasons of overtreatment, potential solutions, and responses regarding association of profit and overtreatment.
findingsThe response rate was 70.1%. Physicians reported that an interpolated median of 20.6% of overall medical care was unnecessary, including 22.0% of prescription medications, 24.9% of tests, and 11.1% of procedures. The most common cited reasons for overtreatment were fear of malpractice (84.7%), patient pressure/request (59.0%), and difficulty accessing medical records (38.2%). Potential solutions identified were training residents on appropriateness criteria (55.2%), easy access to outside health records (52.0%), and more practice guidelines (51.5%). Most respondents (70.8%) believed that physicians are more likely to perform unnecessary procedures when they profit from them. Most respondents believed that de-emphasizing fee-for-service physician compensation would reduce health care utilization and costs.
conclusionFrom the physician perspective, overtreatment is common. Efforts to address the problem should consider the causes and solutions offered by physicians.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.