Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Physicians who still refer patients to advanced imaging equipment they run in their own offices may want to start circling the wagons. A series of articles published this week in Health Affairs takes aim at self-referral, debunking many of the myths that have been used to justify the practice, according to a story by associate editor Kate Madden Yee in our Imaging Leaders Digital Community.
For example, one study found that only a small number of patients visiting physicians who own their own equipment got imaged on the same day as their first visit, undercutting the argument that in-office imaging is more convenient.
Another study found that physician self-referral didn't reduce the length of illness for patients. And several of the studies chronicled the higher healthcare costs that result from in-office self-referral. Learn more by clicking here.
The series highlights the renewed attention being paid to physician self-referral as the U.S. struggles to find ways to cope with rising healthcare costs. But will the articles add any momentum to efforts to eliminate the U.S. legal loophole that allows the practice to flourish? In this political climate, I wouldn't bet on it.
Imaging use rate slows
In other news on imaging utilization, new research presented at last week's RSNA meeting in Chicago indicates that imaging procedure volume rates have slowed in the U.S. after rapid growth in the earlier part of this decade.
A research team led by David Levin, MD, from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, found that imaging utilization began slowing in about 2005, with declines experienced among both radiologists and nonradiologists, according to an article by senior editor Erik L. Ridley.
The easy explanation is that the slowdown is due to the reimbursement cuts implemented by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, but that's not necessarily the case, according to Dr. Levin and his colleagues. Find out why by clicking here, or visit the Imaging Leaders Digital Community at leaders.auntminnie.com.
