The Greater Detroit Area Health Council’s Choosing Wisely Campaign

Brought to you by the Greater Detroit Area Health Council

Welcome

Welcome to the Greater Detroit Area Health Council’s (GDAHC) Choosing Wisely  resource site.  GDAHC is sharing the Choosing Wisely  campaign to health care patients, providers, health plans and employers in southeast Michigan.  The goal is to encourage physicians and patients to have meaningful, informed discussions about medical tests, procedures and treatments that may be unnecessary, and in some instances cause harm.  Making sure the right care is delivered at the right time can improve quality for southeast Michigan patients.

GDAHC has received funding from the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation to lead one of seven initiatives in the United States to reduce unnecessary tests and treatments. Click on our Focus Areas page to learn more.

Choosing Wisely is an initiative of the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation. More than 60 medical specialty societies have joined the campaign and created lists of “Things Providers and Patients Should Question.” The lists include evidence-based recommendations that should be discussed by providers and patients to help make wise decisions about the most appropriate care based on a patients’ individual situation.

Consumer Reports has joined the campaign. It has developed and is sharing materials for patients through large consumer groups to help patients engage their physicians in these conversations and empower them to ask questions about what tests and procedures are right for them. A toolkit for employers is also available through partnership with the National Business Coalition on Health and the Pacific Business Group on Health.

View this video for a short explanation about why Choosing Wisely is needed and what it is.

 

Focus Areas

GDAHC was chosen in June 2015 by the ABIM Foundation to lead one of seven three-year initiatives to focus on reducing the use of tests and treatments that medical specialty societies participating in Choosing Wisely have said are overused. GDAHC’s Choosing Wisely Team includes lead partners DMC PHO, Henry Ford Physician Network and the Michigan State Medical Society, along with supporting partners Blue Care Network, Health Alliance Plan (HAP), Michigan Health and Hospital Association and the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust. Together, we have agreed to focus on reducing the rate of use in the following key areas:

  • Antibiotics for viral infections (adult)
  • Diagnostic testing for low back pain
  • Screening for Vitamin D deficiency

The GDAHC Choosing Wisely Team will implement strategies, using Choosing Wisely and partner resources, through physician and consumer education; measure the outcomes; and report the results to the public, including on this microsite.

Get Involved

GDAHC is seeking consumer presenters to help your peers understand that more is not always better and to promote awareness of the Choosing Wisely campaign. Consumer presenters are asked to attend a two hour training session to learn about Choosing Wisely and how to be a dynamic and engaging presenter and then to make at least three 15-60 minute presentations at:

  • “Lunch & Learn” sessions at employer sites
  • Community centers and events
  • Senior centers and assisted living centers
  • Clubs and community organizations
  • Schools
  • Unions
  • Libraries
  • Faith-based organizations

GDAHC is also seeking opportunities for consumers to make presentations at organizations such as those above. To become a presenter or host a presentation,  contact Lisa Mason at  313-596-0811 or at [email protected].

For Providers

Choosing Wisely® aims to promote conversations between providers and patients by helping patients choose care that is:

  • Supported by evidence
  • Not duplicative of other tests or procedures already received
  • Free from harm
  • Truly necessary

In response to this challenge, national organizations representing medical specialists have asked its providers to “choose wisely” through the identification of tests or procedures commonly used in their field, whose necessity should be questioned and discussed. The resulting lists of “Things Providers and Patients Should Question” will spark discussion about the need—or lack thereof—for many frequently ordered tests or treatments.

This concept was originally conceived and piloted by the National Physicians Alliance, which, through an ABIM Foundation Putting the Charter into Practice grant, created a set of three lists of specific steps physicians in internal medicine, family medicine and pediatrics could take in their practices to promote the more effective use of health care resources. These lists were first published in Archives of Internal Medicine.

Recognizing that patients need better information about what care they truly need in order to have these conversations with their providers, Consumer Reports is developing patient-friendly materials and is working with consumer groups to disseminate them widely.

Choosing Wisely recommendations should not be used to establish coverage decisions or exclusions. Rather, they are meant to spur conversation about what is appropriate and necessary treatment. As each patient situation is unique, providers and patients should use the recommendations as guidelines to determine an appropriate treatment plan together.

Physician Communication Modules

The ABIM Foundation funded the Drexel University College of Medicine to develop a set of interactive instructional modules to enhance physician and patient communication around the specialty society recommendations from the Choosing Wisely campaign. Developed in collaboration with nine medical specialty societies, these modules are designed to help physicians, patients and other health care stakeholders think and talk about overuse of health care resources by providing strategies for physicians to build trust and address patient attitudes and beliefs that more care is not always better care.

Modules

The Choosing Wisely communication modules are available to all users free of charge and are not intended for commercial use.

* The ABIM Foundation’s module was designed for any physician to complete, regardless of their specialty. It contains sections 1 through 16 listed above.

For Consumers, Patients, Families

As a healthcare consumer, you want to be sure you and your family members get the highest quality healthcare possible.  Choosing Wisely can help by providing you with information on tests, treatments, procedures and medications that should be carefully considered for each patient whenever they are being ordered.  Not all consumers understand that more care is not always better care; some care can cause harm if provided when it is not needed.

The point of Choosing Wisely is to help doctors and patients have meaningful conversations to make sure the best choice is always made for each patient.  Taking time to learn about care that is being ordered for you and your family members and asking questions can help make sure the care that is best for you is what you get.

For instance, here is why questioning antibiotic use is important for patients and their families:

Here are more examples of things you may need to know about, and links to information from Consumers Report that can help:

  • Do I need an antibiotic for my sinusitis?

English: Treating Sinusitis

Spanish: Cómo tratar la sinusitis

  • Does my child need an antibiotic for a sore throat?

English: Antibiotics for Respiratory Illness in Children

Spanish: Antibióticos para garganta irritada, tos o nariz tapada

  • Do I need a test for my headache pain?

English: Imaging tests for headaches

Spanish: Pruebas de Imágenes para Dolores de Cabeza

  • Do I need a test for my low back pain?

English: Imaging Tests for Back Pain

Spanish: Pruebas radiológicas debido a dolor en la parte baja de la espalda

  • Do I need a stress test to screen for heart disease?

English: EKGs and Exercise Stress Tests

Spanish: Los electrocardiogramas (ECG) (EKG) y las pruebas de esfuerzo durante el ejercicio

  • When do women need a Pap test?

English: Pap Tests

Spanish: Pruebas de Papanicolaou

  • As a woman, when do I need a screening test for osteoporosis?

English: Bone-Density Tests

Spanish: Pruebas de Densidad de los Huesos

  • What questions should I ask my doctor?

English: Five questions to ask your doctor

Spanish: 5 Preguntas Para Hacerle a Su Médico

To see all the information from Consumer Reports on this and other important topics, visit:

http://consumerhealthchoices.org/patients-and-consumers/

 

To Get Involved

GDAHC is seeking consumer presenters to help other consumers understand that more is not always better and to promote awareness of the Choosing Wisely campaign. Consumer presenters are asked to attend a two hour training session to learn about Choosing Wisely and how to be a dynamic and engaging presenter and then to make at least three 15-60 minute presentations at:

  • “Lunch & Learn” sessions at employer sites
  • Community centers and events
  • Senior centers and assisted living centers
  • Clubs and community organizations
  • Schools
  • Unions
  • Libraries

To learn more, contact Lisa Mason at 313-596-0811 or at [email protected].

For Employers

Welcome to the Choosing Wisely Employer Toolkit! National Business Coalition on Health, with the generous support of Pacific Business Group on Health, partnered with Consumer Reports to create this toolkit for employers to use to educate their employees about the dangers and issues associated with the overuse of health care services.

These materials can help you launch the Choosing Wisely campaign with your employees or integrate it with your current communication efforts, all with your own brand.  These materials are intended for broad distribution. They’re written to “speak” to diverse workforces across a variety of industries.

The toolkit itself is organized into four pieces:

1) Materials for employers to learn about Choosing Wisely, and how to use the toolkit;

2) Materials for employers to use and distribute to their employees;

3) A series of Consumer Reports tip sheets that organize Choosing Wisely into topics that will be easy for employees to identify with; and

4) Links to a wide variety of Consumer Reports resources on health and health care.

Visit the NBCH website directly to learn more.

Video Resources

A growing library of video resources provides diverse perspectives on its impact and challenges.

Contact Us

About GDAHC

The Greater Detroit Area Health Council (GDAHC) was established in 1944 to improve the management of community health resources city-wide, providing health facility planning to hospitals. As the state of health care and health care delivery changed, GDAHC changed its focus from hospitals to becoming a coalition dedicated to the cost-effective allocation, management and use of health care resources. GDAHC continues its mission through innovative planning and strategies with strong collaborations and partnerships. Recognized nationally and locally, GDAHC serves as the leading influential health care coalition in the region.

About GDAHC’s Choosing Wisely Team

The following organizations are part of a Team that is working with GDAHC to promote awareness of Choosing Wisely.

Advantage Health Centers

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

Blue Care Network

MedNetOne Health Solutions

Michigan Quality Improvement Consortium

MichUHCAN

Michigan State Medical Society

Oakland Physician Network Services

Olympia Medical Services, PLLC

To Get Involved

GDAHC is seeking consumer presenters to help your peers understand that more is not always better and to promote awareness of the Choosing Wisely campaign. Consumer presenters are asked to attend a two hour training session to learn about Choosing Wisely and how to be a dynamic and engaging presenter and then to make at least three 15-60 minute presentations at:

  • “Lunch & Learn” sessions at employer sites
  • Community centers and events
  • Senior centers and assisted living centers
  • Clubs and community organizations
  • Schools
  • Unions
  • Libraries
  • Faith-based organizations

GDAHC is also seeking opportunities for consumers to make these presentations at organizations such as those listed above. To become a presenter or host a presentation, contact Lisa Mason at  313-596-0811 or at [email protected].