ASCP Presents 2016 Patients’ Advocate Award to ABIM Foundation for Leadership in Choosing Wisely Campaign

Tuesday, October 11, 2016 – The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) presented its 2016 ASCP Patients’ Advocate Award to the ABIM Foundation for its leadership in advancing a national dialogue on avoiding wasteful or unnecessary medical tests, treatments and procedures through its Choosing Wisely® campaign. The campaign is a joint initiative with Consumer Reports.

The ASCP Patients’ Advocate Award is presented to acknowledge distinguished contributions by members, volunteers, organizations and/or public servants whose actions have furthered patient care within laboratory medicine and pathology.

“ASCP is pleased to recognize the ABIM Foundation for its exemplary leadership of the Choosing Wisely campaign,” said ASCP President William E. Schreiber, MD, FASCP. “This campaign has improved communication between clinicians and laboratory professionals on the value of selected lab tests. The result is better and more cost effective health care for patients.”

Dr. E. Blair Holladay, ASCP Chief Executive Officer, added, “Efforts to address waste and overuse are essential in the fast-approaching evolution of health care and is underscored by the axiom, ‘right test, right patient, at the right time.’ Examples of inappropriate and over-utilized tests are pervasive throughout both anatomic and clinical pathology and laboratory medicine.”

Launched in 2012, the Choosing Wisely campaign centers around conversations between clinicians and patients informed by evidence-based lists created by national medical specialty societies that identify tests and treatments that might be unnecessary or cause harm.

More than 75 specialty society partners have released these recommendations with the intention of facilitating wise decisions about the most appropriate care based on a patients’ individual situation. At its 2016 Annual Meeting held in September, ASCP released a new list of recommendations for laboratory tests that are commonly ordered but are not always appropriate as part of the Choosing Wisely campaign. The new list of five targeted, evidence-based recommendations expands ASCP’s existing list to 15 recommendations and is designed to support conversations between patients and physicians about what care is really necessary.

“The Choosing Wisely campaign has been successful in stimulating a national dialogue about avoiding unnecessary tests and treatments in health care thanks to the tremendous leadership of our partners like ASCP,” said Daniel B. Wolfson, MHSA, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the ABIM Foundation. “We are humbled to receive the Patients’ Advocate Award and truly appreciate all ASCP has done to advance the Choosing Wisely campaign and support patients and clinicians in making informed health care decisions.”

Currently, health care delivery in the United States contains practices that may provide little, if any, benefit to patients. Pathologists and laboratory professionals need to play a leadership role in addressing these challenges.

“It is critical that pathologists and laboratory professionals contribute to improving patient care and reducing the high cost of health care in the United States,” said Lee H. Hilborne, MD, MPH, FASCP, DLM(ASCP)^CM, Chair of ASCP’s Effective Test Utilization Subcommittee and a Past President of ASCP. “Unnecessary testing may lead to inappropriate treatment decisions and consume unnecessary resources. The primary goal of the initiative is to avoid negative consequences associated with the overuse of medical services.”

About ASCP

Founded in 1922 in Chicago, ASCP is a medical professional society with more than 100,000 member board-certified anatomic and clinical pathologists, pathology residents and fellows, laboratory professionals, and students. ASCP provides excellence in education, certification, and advocacy on behalf of patients, pathologists, and laboratory professionals. To learn more, visit www.ascp.org. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ascp_chicago and connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ASCP.Chicago.

About the ABIM Foundation

The mission of the ABIM Foundation is to advance medical professionalism to improve the health care system. We achieve this by collaborating with physicians and physician leaders, medical trainees, health care delivery systems, payers, policy makers, consumer organizations and patients to foster a shared understanding of professionalism and how they can adopt the tenets of professionalism in practice. To learn more about the ABIM Foundation, visit www.abimfoundation.org, connect with us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

About Choosing Wisely®

First announced in December 2011, Choosing Wisely® is part of a multi-year effort led by the ABIM Foundation to support and engage physicians in being better stewards of finite health care resources. Participating specialty societies are working with the ABIM Foundation and Consumer Reports to share the lists widely with their members and convene discussions about the physician’s role in helping patients make wise choices. Learn more at www.ChoosingWisely.org.