Archives of surgery (Chicago, Ill. : 1960)
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Review
Appropriateness criteria to assess variations in surgical procedure use in the United States.
To systematically describe appropriateness criteria (AC) developed in the United States for surgical procedures and to summarize how these criteria have been applied to identify overuse and underuse of procedures in US populations. ⋯ Most existing AC are outdated, and AC have never been developed for most common surgical procedures. A broad and coordinated effort to develop and maintain AC would be required to implement this tool to address variation in the use of surgical procedures.