The American College of Physicians (ACP) has announced plans to provide physicians and patients with evidence-based recommendations for specific interventions for a variety of clinical problems. ACP’s High-Value, Cost-Conscious Care Initiative will assess benefits, harms, and costs of diagnostic tests and treatments for various diseases to determine whether they provide good value - medical benefits that are commensurate with their costs and outweigh any harms.
The initiative will include the development of ACP’s High-Value, Cost-Conscious Care Recommendations by ACP’s Clinical Efficacy Assessment Technical Advisory Committee that will be submitted for review and consideration for publication in Annals of Internal Medicine. The effort seeks to address common medical conditions for which inappropriate use of resources is known to be an issue.
The next edition of ACP’s Medical Self-Assessment Program (MKSAP) will also focus on optimal diagnostic and treatment strategies, based upon considerations of value, effectiveness, and avoidance of overuse and misuse. Additional phases of the initiative may include patient education materials and curricula for medical students and residents.
According to ACP’s 2009 policy paper, Controlling Health Care Costs While Promoting the Best Possible Health Outcomes, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that 5 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product is spent on tests and procedures that do not actually improve health outcomes. ACP contends in that paper that savings can be achieved by reducing inappropriate utilisation of services and by encouraging clinically effective care based on comparative effectiveness research.
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