Report finds increased patient length of stay as imaging use declines

As imaging use declined during the past decade, the average length of stay for Medicare patients increased, highlighting one possible downside to government and private insurers cutting imaging costs, according to a recent report by the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute.

“Lawmakers, regulators and medical professionals are making medical imaging policy decisions without fully understanding or examining their downstream effects – which may include an increase in hospital stays, associated costs and other adverse events,” Richard Duszak, MD, chief executive officer and senior research fellow from the Harvey L. Neiman Policy Institute, stated in a press release. “We need to examine imaging, as it relates to a patient’s overall continuum of care, to ensure that decision makers do not create imaging cost reduction policies which paradoxically raise overall costs, create barriers to care and ultimately harm people.

Between 2000 and 2010, medical imaging decreased from 11.1% to 10.4%, according to the report. During the same time period, average length of stay for Medicare patients increased from 4.9 days to 5.2 days. While researchers said it is unclear whether the trends are related, more research is needed to connect the $6 billion reduction in imaging costs and patient safety and access to care.

“We need to take a hard look at the cost, access and quality and safety issues related to present government and private insurer medical imaging policies and find ways to maximize the value, role and efficiency of radiology as health care systems evolve,” Duszak said.

Reference:

www.acr.org/Research/Health-Policy-Institute/Brief-01-Is-the-Medical-Imaging-Growth-Boom-Over