Waste in the Medicare Program

Low-value health care services offer patients little to no clinical benefit, increase spending, and may cause patient harm. The Choosing Wisely® campaign and other efforts to reduce health care spending have focused attention on reducing waste since low-value services were last cumulatively assessed in Medicare in 2009. Other studies have addressed different populations or explored predictors of low-value service use and spending. In this analysis, we provide updated national estimates of low-value service use and spending in Medicare in 2017.