Should you get that test your doctor ordered?

Doctors’ ability to see inside their patients with lab and imaging tests is one of the miracles of modern medicine. Without tests, we’re just guessing!  But the unsaid truth is that doctors overtest patients, and that may be doing more harm than good to patients, doctors, and the entire health care system. In this episode, we sit down with cardiologist Dr. Jeff Sobel to understand the forces behind overtesting and how he is taking on the problem in his system.

Show Notes:

1. Overuse of diagnostic testing in healthcare: a systematic review 
2. The Landscape of Inappropriate Laboratory Testing: A 15-Year Meta-Analysis
3. Why Doctors Test Too Much
4. Projected Lifetime Cancer Risks from Current Computed Tomography Imaging
5. Getting to “No”