Less is really more: how to reduce low-value care

Workshop category: 

  • Patient or healthcare consumers involvement and shared decision-making
Date and Location

Date: 

Tuesday 18 September 2018 - 14:00 to 15:30

Location: 

Menteith
Contact persons and facilitators

Contact person:

Pauline Heus

Facilitators:

Heus P1, Hooft L2
1 Cochrane Netherlands, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Netherlands
2 Cochrane Netherlands, Netherlands

Acknowledgements:

Verkerk E1, van Dulmen S1, Naaktgeboren C2, Kool T1
1 Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, IQ Healthcare, Netherlands
2 Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht University, Netherlands
Target audience

Target audience: 

Researchers, healthcare providers, patients and health consumers who are interested in quality improvement and eager to learn how to set up a project to reduce low-value care

Level of difficulty: 

Basic
Type of workshop

Type of workshop : 

Training
Abstract

Abstract:

Background:
Low-value care is health care with no or little additional clinical value for the patient, taking into account available alternatives, patient preferences and costs. Reducing low-value care improves quality of care and reduces waste of resources. However, achieving a successful and sustainable reduction of low-value care is not straightforward, as many factors play a role and different stakeholders are involved.

Objectives:
In this interactive workshop, participants will receive the tools to start their own project to reduce low-value care (so-called de-implementation). We will share knowledge based on two systematic reviews of de-implementation studies, and our experience from the Dutch national programme 'To do or not to do? Reducing low-value care'. Participants will become aware of the challenges they might encounter when designing and executing a de-implementation project and how to deal with those challenges.

Description:
After an introduction on low-value care and de-implementation, participants will work in small groups on a real-life example of a de-implementation project. Different stages of de-implementation as well as different stakeholder perspectives will be addressed in the assignments. The findings of the small groups will be discussed in a keynote and we will share our own de-implementation experiences.

Topics covered during this workshop are:

- identifying and measuring low-value care in current practice;
- analysing reasons why low-value care persists and what the potential barriers to and facilitators of de-implementation from different stakeholders may be;
- developing a tailored de-implementation strategy, keeping in mind the identified barriers and facilitators;
- evaluating the effectiveness of a de-implementation strategy.

Relevance to patients and consumers: 

Reducing low-value care, healthcare with no or little additional clinical value for patients, directly affects clinical practice. Therefore, the topic of this workshop is relevant to patients and other healthcare consumers. Strategies to reduce low-value care are often complex and different stakeholders, among which patients, are involved. In this workshop the importance of considering all different stakeholders is emphasized. Patients and other healtchare consumers are very welcome to participate.