The improper use of limited resources is one of the main reasons healthcare systems are not meeting their targets and considerably improving the population’s health. This not only includes medical underuse of resources but, most importantly, medical overuse.
The most common cases of medical overuse are medication overuse—such as antimicrobials, psychotropic drugs, and antihypertensive drugs— but there is also overuse of imaging techniques — such as MRI and CT-scan — and various tests and procedures — such as serological tests and colonoscopies.
Both medical overuse and underuse are serious issues which can cause harm to patients and burden healthcare systems. More research needs to be done to understand the reasons behind medical overuse and underuse, the consequences and ways of evaluating their health economic impact on healthcare systems and designing effective policies to prevent it in the future.
This Research Topic welcomes original research, reviews, opinions and perspectives manuscripts related to healthcare overuse and underuse. Topics may include, but are by no means limited to:
• Health economic evaluations to understand the economic burden of medical overuse and underuse on healthcare systems
• Regulatory reforms and policy packages to avoid medical overuse and underuse
• Drivers of medical overuse and underuse in different settings
• Potential way for detecting or addressing medical overuse and underuse
• Reasons behind medical overuse and underuse — including lack of knowledge of harm of overuse, polypharmacy, poor regulation, and financial interests
• Health consequences to patients from medical overuse and overdiagnosis
• Consequences of overuse and underuse of screening tests in the population
• Public Health Education strategies to promote the reduction of medical overuse and underuse
• The role of AI in medical overuse and underuse
The improper use of limited resources is one of the main reasons healthcare systems are not meeting their targets and considerably improving the population’s health. This not only includes medical underuse of resources but, most importantly, medical overuse.
The most common cases of medical overuse are medication overuse—such as antimicrobials, psychotropic drugs, and antihypertensive drugs— but there is also overuse of imaging techniques — such as MRI and CT-scan — and various tests and procedures — such as serological tests and colonoscopies.
Both medical overuse and underuse are serious issues which can cause harm to patients and burden healthcare systems. More research needs to be done to understand the reasons behind medical overuse and underuse, the consequences and ways of evaluating their health economic impact on healthcare systems and designing effective policies to prevent it in the future.
This Research Topic welcomes original research, reviews, opinions and perspectives manuscripts related to healthcare overuse and underuse. Topics may include, but are by no means limited to:
• Health economic evaluations to understand the economic burden of medical overuse and underuse on healthcare systems
• Regulatory reforms and policy packages to avoid medical overuse and underuse
• Drivers of medical overuse and underuse in different settings
• Potential way for detecting or addressing medical overuse and underuse
• Reasons behind medical overuse and underuse — including lack of knowledge of harm of overuse, polypharmacy, poor regulation, and financial interests
• Health consequences to patients from medical overuse and overdiagnosis
• Consequences of overuse and underuse of screening tests in the population
• Public Health Education strategies to promote the reduction of medical overuse and underuse
• The role of AI in medical overuse and underuse
