Most of the physicians who responded to the survey said they believed that at least 15% to 30% of medical care isn't needed. Breaking down the types of unnecessary medical care, respondents reported that 22% of prescription medications, 24.9% of medical tests, 11.1% of procedures and 20.6% of overall medical care delivered is unnecessary. The median response for physicians who perform unnecessary procedures for profit motive was 16.7%. Physicians with at least 10 years of experience after residency and specialists were more likely to believe that physicians perform unnecessary procedures when they profit from them. The top three reasons cited for overuse of resources were fear of malpractice (84.7%), patient pressure/request (59%) and difficulty accessing prior medical records (38.2%). The top three selected potential solutions for eliminating unnecessary services were training medical residents on appropriateness criteria for care (55.2%), easy access to outside health records (52%) and more evidence-based practice guidelines (51.5%).
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