The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says Medicare would save a bundle if it required patients to get pre-approval before they had MRI or CAT scan imaging done.
"In-office" imaging is growing, and the report says that doctors make a lot of money from it. In 2000, cardiologists got about 23 percent of their income from imaging; only six years later that percentage rose to 36 percent.
The GAO said:
From 2000 through 2006, Medicare spending for imaging services paid for under the physician fee schedule more than doubled -- increasing to about $14 billion. Spending on advanced imaging, such as CT scans, MRIs, and nuclear medicine, rose substantially faster than other imaging services such as ultrasound, X-ray, and other standard imaging. GAO's analysis of the six-year period showed certain trends linking spending growth to the provision of imaging services in physician offices. The proportion of Medicare spending on imaging services performed in-office rose from 58 percent to 64 percent. Physicians also obtained an increasing share of their Medicare revenue from imaging services. In addition, in-office imaging spending per beneficiary varied substantially across geographic regions of the country, suggesting that not all utilization was necessary or appropriate. By 2006, in-office imaging spending per beneficiary varied almost eight-fold across the states--from $62 in Vermont to $472 in Florida.
See
this story from The Wall Street Journal for more details.
Docs stick with Medicaid/Medicare because the guvmint pays the bulk...
