Using the Electronic Health Record to Understand and Minimize Overuse

The “overuse” of health care—the delivery of services that are either unnecessary or of low clinical value—accounts for substantial spending and may cause harm to patients. In a new Commonwealth Fund–supported study (Journal of the American Medical Association, Jan. 17, 2017), Juliet Rumball-Smith of RAND Health and coauthors argue that electronic health records can help identify and eliminate unnecessary care.