ArticleBMC health services research2020
How to assess the value of low-value care.
Article in BMC health services research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
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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
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review of the willingness-to-accept and willingness-to-pay disparities in empirical studies in the healthcare field.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
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- Factors affecting access to palliative care in the emergency department for older adults with serious life- limiting illnesses: a qualitative study.BMC palliative care · 2026Article
- Cost-Effectiveness of an Absorbable Antibacterial Envelope for Infection Control in Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device Procedures in Spain.Journal of health economics and outcomes research · 2026Article
- Erratum: Cost-Effectiveness of an Absorbable Antibacterial Envelope for Infection Control in Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device Procedures in Spain.Journal of health economics and outcomes research · 2026Article
- Understanding healthcare efficiency-an AI-supported narrative review of diverse terminologies used.BMC medical education · 2025Review
- Cost-effectiveness analysis of artificial intelligence-aided colonoscopy for adenoma detection and characterization in Spain.Endoscopy international open · 2025Article
- The Knowledge and Application of Economics in Healthcare in a High-Income Country Today: The Case of Belgium.Journal of market access & health policy · 2024Article
- Is palliative care a utopia for older patients with organ failure, dementia or frailty? A qualitative study through the prism of emergency department admission.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Measuring low-value care in hospital discharge records: evidence from China.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2023Article
- SPICT as a predictive tool for risk of 1-year health degradation and death in older patients admitted to the emergency department: a bicentric cohort study in Belgium.BMC palliative care · 2023Article
- High Prevalence of Cardiac Amyloidosis in Clinically Significant Aortic Stenosis: A Meta-Analysis.Cardiology research · 2022Article
- Organizational influences on the use of low-value care in primary health care - a qualitative interview study with physicians in Sweden.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2022Article
- The global surgical triple goal: Surgery must improve health, be equitable, and environmentally sustainable.The journal of climate change and healthArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMany of the strategies designed to reduce "low-value care" have been implemented without a consensus on the definition of the term "value". Most "low value care" lists are based on the comparative effectiveness of the interventions. MAIN TEXT: Defining the value of an intervention based on its effectiveness may generate an inefficient use of resources, as a very effective intervention is not necessarily an efficient intervention, and a low effective intervention is not always an inefficient intervention. The cost-effectiveness plane may help to differentiate between high and low value care interventions. Reducing low value care should include three complementary strategies: eliminating ineffective interventions that entail a cost; eliminating interventions whose cost is higher and whose effectiveness is lower than that of other options (quadrant IV); and eliminating interventions whose incremental or decremental cost-effectiveness is unacceptable in quadrants I and III, respectively. Defining low-value care according to the efficiency of the interventions, ideally at the level of subgroups and individuals, will contribute to develop true value-based health care systems.
conclusionCost-effectiveness rather than effectiveness should be the main criterion to assess the value of health care services and interventions. Payment-for-value strategies should be based on the definition of high and low value provided by the cost-effectiveness plane.
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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.