Dear AuntMinnie Member,
The Obama administration's healthcare reform legislation survived today after the Supreme Court upheld most of the law, including its most controversial provision, the mandate that all individuals buy insurance. This leaves many in radiology asking, now what?
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has always been seen as a mixed bag for the imaging industry. On one hand, adding millions of new insured individuals to the healthcare pool could boost demand for imaging services over the long term, particularly for preventive tests such as mammography (and perhaps someday) CT lung screening.
But the protracted legal challenge to the law's constitutionality has cast a pall of uncertainty over healthcare, and there's nothing that hospital executives hate more than uncertainty when they're developing their capital equipment purchasing budgets.
If you're an optimist, the Supreme Court ruling could unleash pent-up demand for imaging equipment that's been held back since the challenges to the law began. If you're a pessimist, you might view the U.S. government's ongoing efforts to reduce Medicare spending as having a far greater impact on radiology than this week's ruling.
Either way, we're in for an interesting ride. Read our analysis of the decision by clicking here, or visit the Imaging Leaders Digital Community at leaders.auntminnie.com.
Also in the community, read about a recent roundtable discussion on the health of the radiology job market in the U.S. by clicking here.
Screening mammo rates decline
Meanwhile, a new study presented at the AcademyHealth meeting in Florida this week confirms that mammography screening rates in the U.S. have gone down following the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force's (USPSTF) 2009 decision to withdraw its recommendation that women in their 40s be screened.
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, reported in a survey of 100 health plans that screening mammography rates have dropped 6% since the USPSTF decision. While the drop isn't huge, it underscores the need for additional research to delineate the risks and benefits of breast screening, they said.
Read all about it by clicking here, or visit the Women's Imaging Digital Community at women.auntminnie.com.
