The ACSEP has endorsed an initial statement to underpin the development of a National Action Plan to Prevent Overdiagnosis and Overtreatment in Australia.
Wiser Healthcare is a research collaboration involving The University of Sydney, Bond University, Monash University and international colleagues. It is funded by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council, through both its Centres for Research Excellence scheme and its Program Grant scheme. It aims to conduct research that will reduce overdiagnosis and overtreatment in Australia and around the world. Overdiagnosis and overtreatment occur when routine medical tests and treatments do more harm than good. Wiser Healthcare will investigate the cause and size of the problem and test new solutions, in the areas of cancer, cardiovascular disease and musculoskeletal disorders.
A recent article in the MJA discusses the problem of overdiagnosis along with the aims and work of the current collaboration, all within the international context of responses to overdiagnosis; which has helped gain recent media attention.
