Use and costs of nonrecommended tests during routine preventive health exams.(HEALTH CARE COSTS)

"Routine preventive health exams (PHEs) are common elements of health care in the United States. PHEs are designed to identify asymptomatic diseases at early treatable stages and influence healthy behaviors. This can be achieved through a comprehensive history, physical exam, laboratory testing, and counseling. [For this study,] an investigation was conducted into how often diagnostic tests and procedures, in which evidence and guidelines recommend against performance in asymptomatic individuals, are ordered during routine PHEs. The associated costs were then examined.

There are many reasons for the overuse of diagnostic interventions that lack evidence of benefit in …