Since we go after the cretins of the PT world, we thought it is only fitting to highlight those that are carrying the banner for EBP as well as those trumpeting for positive changes in health care. To that end, we are proud of our first named EIM Ambassador Shannon Brownlee, Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation and former co.

This esteemed health journalist is the author of the award winning Overtreated-Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer. It is a complete gem on many different fronts. She documents our mantra about unnecessary treatments including drugs, surgery, and tests (imaging) under a national delusion that more care is better care.  Furthermore, her documentation of the geographic variability of care is right on target and along with other research indicates that this fact alone is responsible for one third of health care expenditures going for unnecessary care! This book should be mandatory in all medical residency programs across the U.S.

In Dec 2007, Ms. Brownlee had an OUTSTANDING article in The Atlantic Monthly called Overdose where she debunks the notion that the call to push for more physicians via increase in medical school enrollments and additional medical schools will not result in better health and in fact might lead to worse health care!

She calls for a Manhattan Project for evidence due to the craziness of only half of medicine being backed up by real, solid evidence (and this 50% estimate is probably generous in her opinion).  We wholeheartedly support this.

For all of this (as well as coming up with super concepts like indication creep), we are proud to name Shannon Brownlee as our first EIM EBP Ambassador.  Please email her your congratulations.  It is work like hers that further our compelling position of physical therapists as the musculoskeletal providers of choice for our cost-effective and evidence based outcomes.

EIM Team