Professional medical societies are more likely to target non-members when coming up with Choosing Wisely recommendations on unnecessary medical interventions rather their own income-generating tests and treatments, a new study claims.

And almost half of recommendations formulated under Choosing Wisely use qualified phrases such as ‘when possible’, ‘don’t routinely’ or ‘unless necessary’, which can be misinterpreted and result in no change to practice, the researchers say.

The global initiative began in the US back in 2012, with an aim of eradicating low-value, expensive and unnecessary medical tests and treatments through better-informed doctor-patient conversations.

In the first evaluation of its kind, the University of Sydney-led team analysed 1293 Choosing Wisely recommendations to determine how many targeted income-generating treatments, and whether they were favouring the interests of their members over those of non-members.