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Majority of PCPs assigned high value to medical imaging
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The majority of primary care physicians considered access to medical imaging to be essential to patient care, indicating that it aided in establishing earlier and more definitive diagnoses, according to a recent survey.
“Advanced medical imaging constituted one of the most rapidly growing services among Medicare beneficiaries from the mid-1990s until the mid-2000s.” researcher Christine M. Hughes, BA, of the Hadley Hart Group in Chicago, and colleagues wrote. “Since 2005, however, this trend has slowed, but reductions in payment for and/or utilization of advanced imaging continue to be advocated by many policymakers. If imaging utilization has increased, likely it has been requested with increased frequency; thus, the perspectives of ordering physicians may have important policy implications.”
To assess referring physicians’ perceptions of advanced imaging — including MRI, computed tomography and positron emission tomography — and their rationale for its use, researchers identified 500 PCPs to participate in an online questionnaire. Selected participants were licensed in general practice, family practice or internal medicine, spent 75% of their time in direct patient care and had one patient encounter per month for whom imaging was appropriate.
PCPs (mean age, 51.3 years; 78% men; mean years in practice, 19.4) answered questions on their opinions regarding the value and role of advanced imaging. In addition, they were asked to estimate the total Medicare coverage of a non-contrast MRI of the brain which was then compared to national average Medicare payment for this test.
Eighty-eight percent of respondents perceived advanced imaging as increasing their diagnostic confidence, while 90% said advanced imaging provided information not otherwise accessible. Eighty-eight percent responded that advanced imaging facilitated better clinical decision-making and that it increased their confidence in treatment choices. Eighty-six percent of respondents reported that it shortened time to diagnosis.
“Primary care physicians are patients’ main point of contact with the health care system and often the end users of the information that radiologists provide,” Hughes said in a press release. “The fact that they consider imaging of such high importance shows just how vital these technologies are for quality patient care.”
Eighty-five percent of PCPs indicated that patient care would be negatively impacted without access to advanced imaging. PCPs who began practice more than 20 year ago before the propagation of advanced imaging approaches attributed more value to the modality vs. PCPs whose training coincided with the widespread availability of advanced imaging.
“The overall availability of advanced medical imaging to facilitate rapid and accurate diagnoses has contributed to PCPs’ perception of its value,” researcher Richard Duszak Jr., MD, chief medical officer and senior research fellow of the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute, said in the release. “Advanced medical imaging facilitates patient triage, and for sicker patients, decreases the frequency of exploratory surgery, and shortens hospital length of stay — and PCPs clearly recognize that.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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Hughes CM. J Amer Coll Radiol. 2015;doi:10.1016/j.jacr.2014.09.040.
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