First, Do No Harm: Calculating Health Care Waste in Washington State
February 2018The Washington Health Alliance utilized Milliman's MedInsight Health Waste Calculator to analyze the financial waste generated by unnecessary healthcare services, as defined by the national Choosing Wisely program. The Alliance tracked utilization of the 47 most commonly overused treatments among commercially insured patients between July 2015 and June 2016 using All Payer Claims Database (APCD) data. The results of this analysis demonstrate potential misuse of $282 million dollars (45.7% of services analyzed) from services deemed wasteful or likely wasteful. Following this discovery, the Alliance calls on medical professionals to practice wisely, avoiding overuse whenever possible.
