Using a comprehensive utilization management can help reduce the use of high cost imaging in primary care practices.
A comprehensive utilization management (UM) program can significantly reduce high-cost imaging volume among primary care practices, according to a study published in the journal Radiology. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and Massachusetts General Physicians Organization in Boston performed a seven-year retrospective study to quantify the effect of a comprehensive, long-term, provider-led UM program on CT, MRI, nuclear imaging, and PET performed on an outpatient basis. The cohort study included all patients regularly seen by primary care physicians (PCPs) at an urban academic medical center. The main outcome was the number of outpatient high-cost imaging examinations per patient per year ordered by the patient’s PCP or by any specialist. The authors determined the probability of a patient undergoing any high-cost imaging procedure during a study year and the number of examinations per patient per year (intensity) in patients who underwent high-cost imaging. The patient cohort started with 88,959 patients in 2007 and increased to 109,823 by 2013. The researchers determined that overall high-cost imaging utilization went from 0.43 examinations per year in 2007 to 0.34 examinations per year in 2013, a decrease of 21.33 percent. At the same time, similarly adjusted routine laboratory study utilization decreased by 9.4 percent. On the basis of unadjusted data, outpatient high-cost imaging utilization in this cohort decreased 28 percent, compared with a 20-percent decrease in statewide utilization. The researchers concluded a comprehensive UM used among a stable cohort of patients cared for by PCPs can produce a significant and sustained reduction in risk-adjusted per-patient year outpatient high-cost imaging volume.
Stay at the forefront of radiology with the Diagnostic Imaging newsletter, delivering the latest news, clinical insights, and imaging advancements for today’s radiologists.
Large Medicare Study Shows Black Men Less Likely to Receive PET and MRI for Prostate Cancer Imaging
August 1st 2025An analysis of over 749,000 Medicare beneficiaries diagnosed with prostate cancer over a five-year period found that Black men were 13 percent less likely to receive PET imaging and 16 percent less likely to receive MRI in comparison to White men.
The Reading Room Podcast: A Closer Look at Remote MRI Safety, Part 3
August 1st 2025In the third of a three-part podcast episode, Emanuel Kanal, M.D. and Tobias Gilk, MRSO, MRSE, discuss strategies for maintaining the integrity of time-out procedures and communication with remote MRI scanning.
Twenty Years of CT Colonography for Colorectal Cancer Screening: What the Research Reveals
August 1st 2025Computed tomography colonography (CTC) demonstrated a 91.6 percent positive predictive value (PPV) for polyps > 6 mm, according to new research involving over 9,000 patients who underwent CTC for primary asymptomatic colorectal cancer screening.
The Reading Room Podcast: A Closer Look at Remote MRI Safety, Part 2
August 1st 2025In the second of a multi-part podcast episode, Emanuel Kanal, M.D. and Tobias Gilk, MRSO, MRSE, share their perspectives on remote MRI safety protocols for ensuring screening accuracy and adherence to conditional implant guidelines as well as a rapid and effective response to adverse events.
Chest CT for Post-COVID-19 Abnormalities: Nine Takeaways from a Multi-Society Consensus Statement
August 1st 2025Developed by 21 thoracic radiologists, the new international consensus statement addresses appropriate indications, scan acquisition and keys to reporting for the use of chest CT imaging in evaluating for residual lung abnormalities from COVID-19.