Practice variation in clinicalcare for preference-sensitive decisions should be a call to action
to optimize clinical decision making. Preference-sensitive decisions are those that involve
considerable tradeoffs and do not have an option that is clearly superior in all respects. 1
Practice variations, which may be influenced by factors that are extrinsic to the patient, occur
among physicians, hospitals, health care organizations, regions, and health care systems. 1 Thevariationsinpracticeshoulddisturbphysic…
merely because they may indicate wasteful practices but because of the possibility that such …