International Collaboration to Advance Measurement of Low Value Care

In collaboration with the OECD, this project will establish a consortium of 15-17 experts who will develop clinical metrics to benchmark country performance on low value, inefficient care. The group will establish three internationally comparable measures of health care overuse, exploring the feasibility of linking each measure to cost data, with additional measures to then be developed. The initial three measures are: 1. Antibiotics for upper respiratory infections; 2. Imaging for low back pain; and 3. Benzodiazepine/antipsychotics in older patients. The international experts group would meet by teleconferencing and face-to-face prior to a planned third international meeting in Rome (Spring 2016). It is anticipated that developed measures would be included in OECD’s annual publication, Health at a Glance, with data collection potentially expanded to 30+ countries. Moreover, through this collaboration, countries will share best practices in reducing wasteful care.