STARS Letter of Distinction Program - Background Document
Choosing Wisely STARS Letter of Distinction Program
Choosing Wisely STARS supports a “Letter of Distinction” awarded by medical schools for students who have demonstrated a commitment to high-value care. This program aims to encourage and support students who have decided to optionally invest in education and leadership in high-value care during medical school, providing them with a tangible outcome to display this level of commitment.
Process:
The Letter of Distinction program must be initiated/sponsored by a faculty member at each individual school, with appropriate local medical school approval as necessary. That faculty member is responsible for setting specific criteria and processes for administering the program at their individual school, including ensuring validation that a student met pre-specified criteria. For the centralized STARS program to endorse the letter of distinction, we need to be notified by the faculty member regarding the specific criteria prior to announcement of the program. Minimum Proposed Criteria:
- Completion of the Discovering Value-Based Health Care Interactive Learning Modules from Dell Medical School: vbhc.dellmed.texas.edu – Freely available to ALL students (approximately 10 hours total time commitment for all Collections (1-4)).
- Watch Daniel Wolfson’s introduction to Choosing Wisely video: https://vimeo.com/groups/703260/videos/491345162 (15 minutes)
- Letter of commitment from the student to incorporate principles of high-value care into both their education and their future career
Additional Optional Criteria/Resources for Individual Schools to Select (NOT a comprehensive list):
- Certain # of SAVE webinars – 1 hour each
- Certain # of National High-Value Care journal clubs – 1 hour each
- Certain # of interest group meetings – varies
- Completion of an elective course – e.g., Emily Fink’s course
- Completion of all 4 Costs of Care Value Conversation modules – 1 hour total
- Certain # of InnoVATE podcasts from Costs of Care https://costsofcare.org/innovate/ – 20 minutes each
- Certain # of Aquifer High-Value Care modules – https://aquifer.org/courses/high-valuecare/
- Participation in HVPAA webinars / conferences/ sessions: https://hvpaa.org/education/
Thank you to our Choosing Wisely STARS partners: Dell Medical School, Costs of Care, the ABIM Foundation, and Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation.