title: An official American Thoracic Society/American College of Chest Physicians policy statement: the Choosing Wisely top five list in adult pulmonary medicine.
abstract: The American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation's Choosing Wisely campaign aims to curb health-care costs and improve patient care by soliciting lists from medical societies of the top five tests or treatments in their specialty that are used too frequently and inappropriately. The American Thoracic Society (ATS) and American College of Chest Physicians created a joint task force, which produced a top five list for adult pulmonary medicine. Our top five recommendations, which were approved by the executive committees of the ATS and American College of Chest Physicians and published by Choosing Wisely in October 2013, are as follows: (1) Do not perform CT scan surveillance for evaluation of indeterminate pulmonary nodules at more frequent intervals or for a longer period of time than recommended by established guidelines; (2) do not routinely offer pharmacologic treatment with advanced vasoactive agents approved only for the management of pulmonary arterial hypertension to patients with pulmonary hypertension resulting from left heart disease or hypoxemic lung diseases (groups II or III pulmonary hypertension); (3) for patients recently discharged on supplemental home oxygen following hospitalization for an acute illness, do not renew the prescription without assessing the patient for ongoing hypoxemia; (4) do not perform chest CT angiography to evaluate for possible pulmonary embolism in patients with a low clinical probability and negative results of a highly sensitive D-dimer assay; (5) do not perform CT scan screening for lung cancer among patients at low risk for lung cancer. We hope pulmonologists will use these recommendations to stimulate frank discussions with patients about when these tests and treatments are indicated--and when they are not.
authors.affiliation: Pulmonary Center, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA; Center for Healthcare Organization & Implementation Research, Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, Bedford, MA; The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, Hanover, NH. Electronic address: rwiener@bu.edu.
authors.forename: Renda Soylemez
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Wiener
authors.affiliation: Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI.
authors.forename: Daniel R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Ouellette
authors.affiliation: Suburban Lung Associates, Elk Grove Village, IL.
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Diamond
authors.affiliation: Health Services Research and Development, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA; Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.
authors.forename: Vincent S
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, The University of Arizona, Phoenix, AZ; Quality Improvement and Compliance, National Imaging Associates/Magellan Health Services, Inc, Phoenix, AZ.
authors.forename: Janet R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Maurer
authors.affiliation: The Center for Health Research, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Portland, OR; Department of Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine, Northwest Permanente PC, Portland, OR; Department of Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR.
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Mularski
authors.affiliation: UT Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX; South Texas Veterans Health Care System, San Antonio, TX.
authors.forename: Jay I
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Peters
authors.affiliation: Departments of Medicine, Biostatistics and Epidemiology, and Medical Ethics and Health Policy, and the Leonard Davis Institute Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Scott D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Halpern
mesh_terms: D000792:Angiography / Q000191:economics; D003948:Diagnostic Techniques, Respiratory System / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055088:Early Detection of Cancer / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000188:drug therapy; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D055613:Multiple Pulmonary Nodules / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D010102:Oxygen Inhalation Therapy / Q000191:economics; D005791:Patient Care / Q000191:economics*; D011655:Pulmonary Embolism / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D015272:Pulmonary Medicine / Q000191:economics* / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000191:economics; D014481:United States; D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents / Q000191:economics / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents