The American Physical Therapy Association's top five choosing wisely recommendations

Improving health care in the US requires simultaneous pursuit of 3 aims: improving the effectiveness of care, improving the health of our population, and reducing the per capita costs of health care. As the nation focuses on ways to achieve this triple aim, the unwarranted overuse of health care resources is a significant concern. Meanwhile, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) is partnering with Choosing Wisely to become one of the first nonphysician organizations to identify specific evidence-based recommendations that encourage both patients and physical therapists to make wise decisions about the most appropriate care. Through the methodology outlined in this article, APTA has identified 5 services that are commonly performed despite evidence that the service is not effective and, in some cases, may be harmful. The purposes of this article are to identify APTA's 5 Choosing Wisely recommendations, to describe the process by which APTA's list was developed, and to identify strategies for dissemination of this information to physical therapists, patients, and the broader health care community.