Addressing Underuse and Inequities in Low-Value Care Through Implementation and Evaluation

Arizona State University (ASU), through its Safety Net Advancement Center (SNAC), offers a CARE-03–specific expertise contribution focused on underuse and equity as critical, yet under-addressed, dimensions of low-value care in health and care systems.

While much low-value care research emphasizes overuse and misuse, persistent underuse of evidence-based services among underserved populations represents a major source of avoidable harm, inefficiency, and inequity. ASU/SNAC brings applied expertise in identifying inequitable patterns of underuse and designing implementation strategies that improve access, engagement, and outcomes in resource-constrained health systems.

Key areas of contribution include:

• Equity-sensitive measurement of underuse and access barriers across care pathways

• Development of indicators capturing intersectional and population-level variation

• Implementation research to increase uptake of high-value services, including behavioral health integration

• Economic and ROI evaluation assessing distributional and access-related impacts

• Mixed-methods evaluation of effectiveness, equity, scalability, and transferability

ASU is a U.S. R1 public research university and a non-EU associated partner eligible for EU funding, contributing complementary international perspectives, access to large-scale U.S. health system and population-level data, and experience evaluating delivery and payment reforms affecting equity.

This equity- and underuse-focused perspective is well aligned with HORIZON-HLTH-2026-01-CARE-03 and Health Systems Performance Assessment (HSPA) principles, and is intended to strengthen consortium proposals by ensuring that efforts to reduce low-value care also advance patient-centeredness and health equity.

A detailed cooperation brief is attached.

Contact:
Matt Martin, PhD
Associate Director, Safety Net Advancement Center
Arizona State University
matthew.perry.martin@asu.edu