Understanding and Discouraging Overuse of Potentially Harmful Screening Tests

Most prevention efforts focus on promoting services (e.g. vaccination, screening tests). While some of these services have clear net benefit, many instead have possible or clear net harm. Currently, three quarters of services graded by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) have possible or clear net harm (C, I, and D services). Many of these services are delivered in healthcare settings at higher rates than what might be expected based on their potential for harm. This leads to adverse outcomes, excess costs, and missed opportunities to deliver more quality care. An important issue in delivering prevention messages is how to shift toward a focus on the appropriateness of prevention: encouraging services with clear net benefit and either discouraging or reducing demand for services with possible or clear net harm. Unfortunately, little is known about what drives overuse of potentially harmful screening services or how to make harms relevant to patients.

This randomized controlled trial (RCT) of 775 patients at 4 primary care practices aims to 1) assess factors associated with intent to receive possibly or clearly harmful screening services and 2) determine whether and how patients' plans to get screened change with various presentations of information about harms (e.g. qualitative, quantitative, narrative, framed). The investigators will focus on three types of screening services: osteoporosis screening (previous C recommendation and now no recommendation for women < 65 years old with no fracture risk factors), prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening (D recommendation for all men, regardless of age), and colorectal cancer (CRC) screening (C for ages 76-85).