What’s the Actual Value of Common Tests and Procedures?: Dr. Rita Redberg, Cardiologist and Professor of Medicine at UCSF

"It's really hard to justify a test that has any complications if there isn't any reasonable expectation of benefit," says Dr. Rita Redberg, who has spent her career trying to help fellow clinicians consider the actual value of routine screenings and diagnostic testing in asymptomatic patients. Dr. Redberg -- a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco for more than three decades -- is one of the leading voices advocating for a “high-value care” approach, an uphill fight in a healthcare system that tends to reward action over restraint. Her highest profile effort was launching the instructive “Less is More” series in JAMA Internal Medicine when she served as its editor-in-chief for 14 years.

On a related track, her research on the assessment of the safety and effectiveness of medical technology, specifically high-risk cardiovascular devices, has yielded a troubling picture. "We found only 1% of devices enter the market through the FDA's most rigorous approval process. The high-quality evidence to support benefit for these devices that I had assumed was present, wasn't actually there.”

Join Raise the Line host Lindsey Smith for an eye-opening exploration of what Dr. Redberg considers to be the overlooked risks and false reassurance of common tests and procedures, and her efforts to put the “do no harm” principle of medicine at the forefront of everyday practice.

Mentioned in this episode:

UCSF School of Medicine

JAMA Internal Medicine's Less is More Series

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