Lawmakers ask: What if patients shared in medical decisions?

When patients understand their choices and share in the decision making process with their doctors, they tend to choose less invasive and less expensive treatments than they would have otherwise received, according to the Wall Street Journal Health Blog. Now around the country, lawmakers are looking at expanding shared-decision making programs, both as a possible cost-cutting measure and as a way to ensure that patients get their legal right to informed consent before medical procedures.