Doctors use the scoring systems to single out patients who could benefit from counseling about lifestyle changes, such as losing weight and quitting smoking, or from preventive interventions such as low-dose aspirin and cholesterol drugs, says Yul Ejnes, the chairman of the AmericanCollege of Physicians board of regents.
The Health Affairs study's conclusions are "largely around billing practices, not around clinical practices, " said George Kwass, a pathologist based in Massachusetts and board member of the College of American Pathologists.