Helping Patients with Liver Disease Choose Wisely

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- As in every field of medicine, there are certain tests and procedures that patients with liver disease and their physicians should discuss to ensure they are truly necessary and will improve care. The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) is proud to partner with the ABIM Foundation's Choosing Wisely® campaign to identify specific tests, procedures, and treatments that may be unnecessary and may even cause harm.

AASLD has made recommendations on a wide range of liver conditions that affect patients with:

• Cirrhosis and small varices
• Hepatitis encephalopathy
• Hepatitis C virus
• Benign focal liver lesions

AASLD's list was developed by a group of experts to broadly represent varying practice settings and subspecialty expertise within the field of hepatology after soliciting the input of the entire AASLD membership. The recommendations that AASLD made are based on the most current evidence found in scientific literature.

Health care in America often includes practices that may provide little, if any, benefit to patients. Some estimate that up to 30 percent of health care spending goes toward duplicative or unnecessary interventions. The Choosing Wisely® campaign of the ABIM Foundation is one way of encouraging conversations between physicians and patients to avoid these unnecessary tests or procedures and improving overall health.  

Since launching in April 2012, nearly 100 national, regional and state medical specialty societies, health collaboratives and consumer groups have become Choosing Wisely partners. The campaign has released 54 lists covering more than 250 tests and procedures that the specialty society partners say are overused or inappropriate.

"AASLD is pleased to be working with the ABIM Foundation to help streamline the care of our patients with liver disease and spark conversations with their physicians about the care that is best for them," said Dr. Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, AASLD president.

To view the specific recommendations, please visit the Choosing Wisely® page of the AASLD website at www.aasld.org. To learn more about Choosing Wisely and to view the complete lists and additional detail about the recommendations and evidence supporting them, visit www.ChoosingWisely.org.

About the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

AASLD is the leading medical organization for advancing the science and practice of hepatology. Founded by physicians in 1950, AASLD's vision is to prevent and cure liver diseases. Visit www.aasld.org for more information.

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, read our blog blog.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.

Media Contact: Gregory Bologna  
[email protected]  
Telephone: (703) 299-9766

This release was issued through The Xpress Press News Service, merging e-mail and satellite distribution technologies to reach business analysts and media outlets worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.XpressPress.com.

SOURCE American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD)

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