Finland spends hundreds of millions of euros on low-benefit treatments
In Finland, hundreds of millions of euros are spent each year on treatments that provide patients with little or no benefit. This estimate was given by the country’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, YLE News reports.
The ministry is drafting a law intended to define the principles for selecting procedures and medicines that will be publicly funded. The aim of the initiative is to direct the public healthcare and social security system toward more efficient use of limited resources.
Some treatments provide little benefit
According to the estimates cited in the report, 20–30% of treatments for diseases and other health problems provide patients with only little benefit or no benefit at all. Some such interventions may even harm patients.
Sara Launio, chief physician at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare, noted that in some cases treatment may be considered beneficial if it substantially helps one in seven patients. At the same time, it is impossible to determine in advance exactly who will benefit, making it difficult to deny the procedure to other patients.
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According to Launio, established assessment procedures have long been in place for medicines: it is necessary to prove a drug’s safety and its benefit compared with other medicines for the same disease. Similar mechanisms have not been as well established for medical procedures.
Research limitations and overtreatment
Medical research is often conducted on narrow groups of participants and does not always take into account the impact of age, chronic illnesses, or other conditions on treatment effectiveness. If a therapy studied in a limited group is offered to a broader range of patients, treatment outcomes may be worse.
Launio also drew attention to the fact that medical research has historically focused more often on men, although medicines may affect women differently. The report notes that women’s diseases may still be underestimated, while access to treatment for such conditions is sometimes difficult.
According to a dissertation study by general practitioner Aleksi Raudasoya, almost all doctors consider overdiagnosis and overtreatment to be a significant problem. Among the reasons, they cited patients’ expectations and demands, fear of mistakes, and lack of time. Raudasoya believes that instead of placing blame on doctors or patients, working conditions and the structure of the healthcare system should be analyzed.
