Abstract

Objective: 

Health care overuse is pervasive in countries with advanced health care delivery systems. We hypothesize that effective interventions to reduce low-value care that targets patients or clinicians are mediated by psychological and cognitive processes that change behaviors and that interventions targeting these processes are varied. Thus, we performed a scoping review of experimental studies of interventions, including the interventions’ objectives and characteristics, to reduce low-value care that targeted psychological and cognitive processes.

Methods: 

We systematically searched databases for experimental studies of interventions to change cognitive orientations and affective states in the setting of health care overuse. Outcomes included observed overuse or a stated intention to use services. We used existing frameworks for behavior change and mechanisms of change to categorize the interventions and the mediating processes.

 

Citation

Gupta, Ravi MD, MS*,†; Xie, Bingrui Emily‡; Zhu, Meng PhD§,∥; Segal, Jodi B. MD, MPH*,†. Randomized Experiments to Reduce Overuse of Health Care: A Scoping Review. Medical Care 62(4):p 263-269, April 2024. | DOI: 10.1097/MLR.0000000000001978