Is Your Hospital Performing Unnecessary Tests And Procedures?

Many hospital doctors continue to perform unnecessary medical procedures and surgeries every year, according to a new report from the nonpartisan healthcare think tank Lown Institute.

The second annual Hospitals Index found that in the U.S., for-profit, non-teaching and Southern hospitals were associated with the highest rates of overuse. Hospitals like Houston Methodist Sugarland Hospital, CHI St. Luke's Health Memorial Livingston in Tennessee and Adventist Healthcare Fort Washington Medical Center in Maryland all scored in the bottom 50 hospitals as having the most Medicare claims for 12 unnecessary tests, procedures and surgeries.

"These are things that are generally low-value–tests and procedures that you don't really see health improvements or functional improvements," said Dr. Vikas Saini, president of the Lown Institute. "So the money spent is waste. These are the tip of the iceberg of overuse, because this is the stuff that are very black and white."