Preventive and Screening Healthcare Services Found to be Overused in the United States
Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that the overuse of health care procedures, diagnostic tests and medications has been widespread in the United States for at least 30 years.
Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that the overuse of health care procedures, diagnostic tests and medications has been widespread in the United States for at least 30 years. Such unnecessary health care services contribute to high medical costs, and could be harmful to patients. The study was published today in JAMA’s Archives of Internal Medicine.
The Mount Sinai researchers studied 172 articles published in MEDLINE from 1978 through 2009, which described the overuse of procedures, diagnostic tests, and medications in the United States. The most commonly studied services were antibiotics for upper respiratory infections, coronary angiography, carotid endarterectomy and coronary revascularization (including coronary artery bypass grafting).
"Overuse" of healthcare services was defined as services for which the benefits are outweighed by the negative effects, including unnecessarily contributing to high medical costs. Though rates of overuse varied widely, there was evidence of overuse of all services studied. In the articles studied, rates of overuse of antibiotics for upper respiratory infections ranged from 2 percent to 89 percent; overuse of coronary angiography ranged from 4 percent to 21.8 percent; carotid enderterectomy overuse ranged from 1 percent to 33 percent; and the over use of coronary revascularization ranged from 1.4 percent to 15 percent.
Overuse of screening tests was also common, and was highest for pap smears for cervical cancer (58 percent) and colon cancer screening after a previously negative test (61 percent).
"In spite of a paucity of information about the overuse of many services, our findings suggest that overuse is common," said the study’s co-author, Deborah R. Korenstein, MD, Associate Professor of General Internal Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "The high rate of overuse of many preventive and screening services is particularly notable; since screening is performed in most patients its overuse would result in a large amount of unnecessary care and could be both costly and harmful." "More research into the appropriateness of screening tests would help physicians to target limited resources," said co-author Salomeh Keyhani, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine at University of California, San Francisco. "Given the importance placed on delivering high quality efficient care, there seems to be a disconnect between this often stated health care policy goal and the amount of research investment in this area, there is an underuse of overuse research."
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses both The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Established in 1968, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is one of the leading medical schools in the United States. The Medical School is noted for innovation in education, biomedical research, clinical care delivery, and local and global community service. It has more than 3,400 faculty in 32 departments and 14 research institutes, and ranks among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and by U.S. News & World Report.
The Mount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is a 1,171-bed tertiary- and quaternary-care teaching facility and one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. In 2011, U.S. News & World Report ranked The Mount Sinai Hospital 16th on its elite Honor Roll of the nation’s top hospitals based on reputation, safety, and other patient-care factors. Of the top 20 hospitals in the United States, Mount Sinai is one of 12 integrated academic medical centers whose medical school ranks among the top 20 in NIH funding and US News & World Report and whose hospital is on the US News & World Report Honor Roll. Nearly 60,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients last year, and approximately 560,000 outpatient visits took place.
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About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with 48,000 employees working across seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 600 research and clinical labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time—discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.
Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians and 10 free-standing joint-venture centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals, Best in State Hospitals, World Best Hospitals and Best Specialty Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2025-2026.
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