Consumer Reports Engages Patients in Choosing Wisely

Consumer Reports – the world’s largest independent product-testing organization – is proud to partner with the ABIM Foundation and lead the consumer communication efforts of the Choosing Wisely campaign. Known to be a trusted and independent nonprofit organization whose mission includes empowering consumers to protect themselves, Consumer Reports is considered the “consumer communicator” partner on the Choosing Wisely campaign.

Consumer Reports works with its partners and the Choosing Wisely grantees to develop methods to disseminate messages to each of their respective audiences. This can include creating and customizing Choosing Wisely websites, integrating “toolkits” into practice and more. Recently, they worked with groups such as the National Business Coalition on Health and Pacific Business Group on Health to help educate consumers through a Choosing Wisely Employer Toolkit for companies to educate their employees about the overuse of health care resources.

These resources encourage conversations between health care providers and consumers about overuse or misuse of medical tests, treatments and procedures that may provide little benefit and, in some cases, may cause harm. To facilitate these important conversations, Consumer Reports provided engaging, easy-to-read and vetted resources to their consumer partners, the 21 Choosing Wisely grantees and the general public. Examples of these resources include:

• Over 80 plain-language, consumer-oriented brochures with titles such as:
  • “Antibiotics for a sore throat, cough, or runny nose: When children need them—and when they don’t”
  • “Delivering your baby: Why scheduling early delivery is not a good idea”
  • “Imaging tests for lower-back pain: You probably do not need an X-ray, CT scan, or MRI”

• Five consumer-oriented videos
• A :30 public service announcement
• A poster entitled “5 Questions to Ask Your Doctor Before You Have Any Medical Test or Procedure”
• And more.

All of the resources listed above are available at the Consumer Reports website: www.ConsumerHealthChoices.org/Choosing.

Future articles will highlight the work of consumer partners advancing Choosing Wisely in the field. To learn more about working with Consumer Reports on the Choosing Wisely campaign or to become a consumer partner, please contact HealthImpact@cr.consumer.org