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A two year study by the Juran Institute, an industrial management consulting firm in Connecticut, has found that $390bn (£265bn; [euro]415bn) a year is being wasted on outmoded and inefficient medical procedures in the United States.
The study was commissioned by the Midwest Business Group on Health, an 11 state coalition of large public and private employers, working together to improve the quality and effectiveness of health services.
The 88 page study found that 30% of all direct healthcare spending was the result of poor quality care-primarily overuse, misuse, and waste. The impact of underuse on costs was not clear.
Examples of overuse included hysterectomies, cardiac catheterisation, antibiotics, tranquillisers, sedatives, cardiac...