The authors studied whether a financial incentive program for resident trainees could lead to fewer unnecessary laboratory tests in neurosurgical patients in a 600-bed academic hospital setting. The authors identified five laboratory tests that were among the most frequently ordered during 2010 to 2011, but which were also unlikely to be abnormal or influence patient management.
The study also found that the reduction in testing led to a savings of $1.7 million in billable charges to healthcare payers and $75,000 of direct costs to the medical center.
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