Clinical Decisions Made in Primary Care Clinics Before and After Choosing Wisely

The Choosing Wisely campaign encourages physicians to avoid low-value care. Although widely lauded, no study has examined its impact on clinical decisions made in primary care settings.

We compared clinical decisions made for 5 Choosing Wisely recommendations over two 6-month time periods before and after the campaign launch and an educational intervention to promote it at 3 primary care residency clinics.

The rate of recommendations adherence was high (93.2%) at baseline but did significantly increase to 96.5% after the launch. These findings suggest primary care physicians respond to training and publicity in low-value care, though further research is needed.

Given that even small decreases of physician test ordering can produce large cost savings, the Choosing Wisely project may help achieve the health care triple aim.