Doc's Reasons for Over-Treating Patients

In the NY Times "Well" blog, Pauline W. Chen, MD, discusses an Archives of Internal Medicine article which found that almost half of doctors "believed that patients in their practice were receiving too much care." Doctors pointed to three factors: "inadequate time allotted to patients led them to order more tests or refer to specialists," the fear of litigation or perception of "not doing enough," and "the current quality measures and clinical guidelines" that sometimes promote excessive testing, especially since "insurers are increasingly linking payment to these guidelines."