[Choosing Wisely in Sweden]

Abstract

Overdiagnosis and overtreatment receive increasing attention. More than 20 percent of health expenditure is without patient benefit, so-called low-value care. Several national and international initiatives have been launched to minimize low-value care. Arguably, the most widely spread initiative is Choosing Wisely. First launched by the American Board of Internal Medicine in 2012, this campaign has spread to more than 20 countries. The Swedish Society of Medicine has identified low-value care as a significant problem in Swedish health care and has established a working group to investigate if and how a campaign based on Choosing Wisely would be feasible in Sweden. Here, the working group reports on the history of Choosing Wisely, identifies potential challenges for deimplementation generally and in the Swedish context specifically.