“Choosing Wisely” doesn’t

Back in September, WingRight promoted a program, “Choosing Wisely,” an initiative by the American Board of Internal Medicine. Well, the other shoe dropped.

For years, I’ve told patients that we need to periodically screen for hypertension and diabetes because most people don’t feel bad when their blood pressure or blood sugar is high. The Center for Disease Control reports that about a fifth of people with high blood pressure and that nearly a third of diabetics are undiagnosed.

But these facts didn’t impress the Society of General Internal Medicine, which released their “Choosing Wisely” list suggesting that doctors not ask non-insulin dependent diabetes patients to check their sugars at home or schedule “routine general health checks for asymptomatic adults,” including the ‘health maintenance’ annual visit”  The SGIM claims that these common medical practices cause more harm than good — or is it that they cost more money than they save?