The study was performed by Dr. Jean M. Mitchell, a professor
of public policy at Georgetown University in Washington,
D.C., who reviewed data about diagnostic
imaging collected between 2000 and 2004 by a large California private insurer and compared it
to a report from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.
Dr. Vivian Ho, a professor of medicine at Baylor College of
Medicine and an associate professor of economics at Rice University,
who wrote commentary about the study, said the increase in self-referrals
raises legal questions about whether this increase in tests is necessary for
the patients or are occurring as means increase reimbursement for physicians.
"Unfortunately, the legal system, the method of
reimbursing physicians, and our lack of tools to monitor appropriateness of
testing have led to significant increases in diagnostic imaging, which likely
provide little health benefit to patients," Ho wrote.
The findings of Mitchell’s study are published in the current issue of Medical
Care.
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