The overuse of tests and procedures because of fear of malpractice litigation is known as defensive medicine, and researchers recently estimated the cost of defensive medicine on three hospital medicine services in a health system and published the results in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The researchers invited 42 hospitalists to complete a survey regarding demographic information and attitudes toward defensive medicine, of which 36 participated and rated 4,215 orders for 769 patients. They also examined the relationship between physicians' cost due to defensive medicine.
The study found that 28 percent of the orders were rated as partially defensive. The mean cost per patient was $1,695, of which $226 were found partially defensive. Completely defensive orders represented 2.9 percent of costs.
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