Consumer Reports: Excessive Screenings Are Costly

Consumer Reports’ January 2019 cover:

Haven’t I been saying this? I’ve been saying this. For years I’ve been saying this.
Dr. H. Gilbert Welch: “The More Tests You Do, The More Likely One Of Them Will Be Falsely Abnormal”

Thank you, Melinda.

6 thoughts on “Consumer Reports: Excessive Screenings Are Costly”

mboydp January 9, 2019 at 3:53 pm

You HAVE been saying it for years! It’s not a particularly in-depth article, but it gives you some idea of other places to look for more info–but I always come to you first!

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mboydp January 9, 2019 at 3:54 pm

Also, your tweets re ellagic acid also look really interesting re IBD!

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Bix Post authorJanuary 9, 2019 at 5:56 pm

I’ll throw up a post on that. It’s pretty interesting.

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Bix Post authorJanuary 9, 2019 at 6:02 pm

One reason there are so many tests is that the medical industry has dramatically increased marketing of them. I just saw this:

In an article recently published in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA), researchers from The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice reviewed medical marketing (the marketing of prescription drugs, disease awareness, laboratory tests and health services to consumers and professionals) over a 20-year period from 1997 through 2016 and found that while it had increased dramatically from about $17.7 billion to $29.9 billion, regulation has not.

Medical marketing has skyrocketed in the past two decades, while oversight remains limited, EurekAlert, 8 January 2019

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Marj January 10, 2019 at 9:51 am

Medical marketing seems to be everywhere all the time!! For everything!! Will limit my soapbox time to that, but am very interested (as mboydp suggested) to learn more about ellagic acid as mentioned in your tweet. I’m not a tweeter (yet).

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Bix Post authorJanuary 12, 2019 at 6:51 am

I just received a pamphlet in the mail from a local hospital selling all their tests and physicians and classes. On the cover is a photo of an older woman doing sit-ups with a young trainer. The woman is hyperextending her neck and putting pressure on her lower back. Not good. With a trainer! You’d think they’d at least get it right for a cover photo.

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