Some large health insurers are turning to radiology benefits managers (RBMs) to help reduce the costs of imaging scans. The Wall Street Journal reports that the number of CT scans and MRIs increased 43% in five years while the cost of PET scans tripled from 2001 to 2005. Insurers’ increased price consciousness can create conflicts of interest for doctors—especially in situations where they are not allowed to perform a scan on a patient without an insurer’s permission. While insurers say that many of the scans performed by doctors are unnecessary, doctors fear that cutting back on scans will hinder their ability to detect problems early. It is estimated that RBMs represent more than half of all Americans who have private insurance.
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November 6th, 2008
November 19th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Hey, if you don’t like the cost and convenience of an imaging study to see what is happening inside a patient, you can always do “exploratory surgery”. That will certainly save money. And have the patient out of anything productive for a month.
Or you can guess — and let the patient and the system pay a thousand times more to cure a condition that would have been caught with a scan.
The same thing happened to the car companies. The techies who loved and understood how to make better automobiles were pushed aside by financial managers who only knew the “just don’t pay” method of using money.
More efficient, higher tech medicine is the only way out of the “healthcare crisis”.
November 19th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Scans are really important tools. They save money when they can identify problems early and prevent more serious consequences. Of course we can save money by not having the scans. We can save more money later by ingoring the more serious condition. We all have to die sometime but if you are the patient, you are concerned about your health and have signed up for healthcare, you would like to get medical treatment and enjoy a decent life.