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Canada Research Chair in Shared Decision Making and Knowledge Translation
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France Légaré contributes to an article about the opportunity of reducing unnecessary healthcare due to COVID-19


The continuing costs of the pandemic combined with the impending financial crisis will inevitably mean having to do more with less. The tragedy of the pandemic has paradoxically produced an opportunity to tackle the increasingly recognised challenge of unnecessary tests, diagnoses, and treatments which cause harm and waste resources that could be better used. In Canada, patients receive more than a million potentially unnecessary tests and treatments each year, according to recent estimates.
As a group of doctors from the Quebec College of Family Physicians has argued, the crisis caused by the pandemic requires health systems to prioritize interventions “that have demonstrated effectiveness and concrete benefits for patients.” Mounting evidence of overuse of medical interventions, and campaigns such as Choosing Wisely that aim to avoid overuse, are more relevant than ever.

Link to article here

By Sébastien Drouin, 15/07/2020