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Low-value care — i.e., health services whose cost or harms outweigh their benefits —is common among U.S. Medicare and private insurance beneficiaries. In this nationwide cross-sectional study, researchers quantified use and cost of 29 potentially low-value tests and procedures across six categories (i.e., cancer screening, diagnostic and preventive testing, preoperative testing, imaging, cardiovascular testing and procedures, and other procedures). Data were from 1.7 million Veterans Affairs (VA) healthcare beneficiaries (mean age, 63; 92% men) who received services delivered by VA facilities or VA Community Care programs between April 2020 and January 2022.
Twenty low-value services per 100 veterans were delivered, representing services to …