Communicating value to patients-a high-value care communication skills curriculum.

Introduction: With rising health care costs in the United States, trainees will be increasingly challenged in discussing testing stewardship with patients.

Objective: We piloted a high-value care (HVC) communication skills curriculum utilizing the Four Habits Model for communication. We hoped residents would 1) learn to apply the Four Habits communication model to HVC discussions with standardized patients (SP) and 2) improve value-based communication skills through training in a high-intensity curriculum with feedback from trained faculty facilitators and peers.

Choosing Daily Labs Wisely in the Hospital: A Novel Tool for Assessing Laboratory Testing Appropriateness.

Background: The Minnesota Lab Appropriateness (MLAB) criteria were developed for assessing appropriateness of complete blood counts (CBCs) and serum electrolyte panels (SEPs) ordered for adult inpatients.

Methods: Two independent raters used the MLAB criteria to rate appropriateness of labs ordered during 50 hospitalizations through retrospective medical record review.

Results: Evaluation of 208 CBCs and 253 SEPs on a 2-category scale (appropriate/inappropriate) resulted in an inappropriate lab rate of 24% and 25% for CBCs and SEPs, respectively.

Interactive value-based curriculum: a pilot study.

Background: Current health care costs are unsustainable, with a large percentage of waste attributed to doctor practices. Medical educators are developing curricula to address value-based care (VBC) in education. There is, however, a paucity of curricula and assessments addressing levels higher than 'knows' at the base of Miller's pyramid of assessment.