Promoting Good Stewardship in Clinical Practice Project

Background

Americans are concerned about the quality and cost of health care. Unfortunately, some elements of the health care system include expensive practices that do not improve health and instead introduce harm. Practicing responsible medicine means always doing what is best for the patient while being mindful that resources are finite and that doing more does not always mean better care. 

The National Physicians Alliance believes that every American deserves high quality and affordable health care. Our project, "Promoting Good Stewardship in Clinical Practice," will identify five steps primary care physicians can take in their daily practices to achieve the highest goals of doctors and patients alike: excellent care that we can afford together.  The American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation has provided a grant to support this project, headed by Dr. Stephen Smith, professor emeritus of family medicine at Brown University.

The project has formed 3 working groups, each working on crafting their 5 items to change in the general practice of each the 3 specialties: pediatrics, internal medicine, and family medicine.  Each item is intended to end a costly, ineffective practice, and together, have a significant impact on the cost of health care as well as improving the approach to providing health care.

The internal medicine working group completed its initial development of 5 candidate items. Alpha field testers rated these items and provided comments. The feedback was incorporated and now awaits a final round of beta testing before widespread dissemination.

Your Invitation to be a Beta Field Tester

Each member of the internal medicine working group and each alpha tester is being asked to invite 4 or 5 of their internal medicine colleagues to review the 5 recommendations.  The beta field testing group will represent a larger and more representative sample of practicing internists who can assess the validity and relevance of our penultimate "Top 5" list before it becomes public. 

This is an opportunity for you to participate in a project that has the potential to significantly improve the quality of health care while also constraining costs. Please join us. Send your reply to Becky Martin.