It might make them feel better to have them, in a manner ofspeaking, but health care consumers are sinking $25 billion ayear on low-value procedures that are often not even needed.

According to HRDive reporting on a study fromthe Task Force on Low-Value Care, amultistakeholder group established by VBID Health, the five mostcommonly overused low-value medical procedures are:

• Diagnostic imaging and testing for low-risk patients before theyundergo low-risk surgery

• Vitamin D screening

• Screening of men 75 and older for prostate-specific antigen

• Imaging for acute lower-back pain the first six weeks aftersymptoms appeared without clinical warning signs

• Using expensive brand-name drugs when generics with the sameactive ingredients are available

The report points out that while most consumers are dependent onhealth care professionals, not their ownknowledge, to determine which services and procedures they shouldhave, they don’t know when a procedure won’t provide them withsufficient useful information to justify its cost. It adds thatwhile benefits education alone probably won’t solve this particularproblem, “employers can help employees become advocates for their own health throughvalue-comparison tools and services.”

Amid continually increasing health care costs, it says, allstakeholders, including not just employees and their employers, butalso insurers and service providers, “must consider ways to slowsteep cost increases.” In particular, the soaring costs ofprescription drugs and specialty pharmaceuticals stand out as thelargest cost driver, but chronic conditions also weigh on thebottom line. Everything from sleep disorders to Type 2 diabetescomes with cost—and employers need to consider wellness initiatives“[t]o protect employees at risk of acquiring chronicillnesses….”