Many of the MRIs were of poor quality and could have been performed elsewhere.
More body MRI examinations are being performed in-hospital, but are often of poor quality and provide redundant information, according to a study published in the American Journal of Radiology.
Researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, sought to analyze body MRI utilization trends, quality, yield, and timing among inpatients in a tertiary care academic medical center.
Using billing data from fiscal years 2006 to 2015, researched compared the volume of admissions with the total number of inpatient body MRI examinations. MRI examinations per admissions and discharge were adjusted using the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services case mix index by fiscal year. Linear regression was used to assess trends. In addition, each inpatient body MRI examination performed in fiscal year 2015 was evaluated and graded on its quality and yield and was judged as to whether it could have been performed on an outpatient basis.
Related article: Comprehensive Utilization Management Reduces High Cost Imaging Volume
The results showed there was an increase in the number of inpatient body MRI examinations, from 637 examinations in FY 2006 to 871 examinations in fiscal year 2015. When adjusted for case mix, the upward trend for body MRI use persisted.
When examining the quality of the MRIs, the researchers noted that of the inpatient body MRI examinations:
The researchers also found that 30.2% of examinations could have been performed as outpatient examinations.
The researchers concluded that at their institution, the number of inpatient body MRI examinations had increased significantly over the past 10 years. However, many of the examinations were of poor quality, often gave redundant information, and could have be performed in the outpatient setting.
The Reading Room Podcast: Emerging Trends in the Radiology Workforce
February 11th 2022Richard Duszak, MD, and Mina Makary, MD, discuss a number of issues, ranging from demographic trends and NPRPs to physician burnout and medical student recruitment, that figure to impact the radiology workforce now and in the near future.
Study: Black Patients Less Likely Than Others to Receive MRI Assessment of Cognitive Impairment
November 27th 2023In a four-year study of over 1,600 patients who had outpatient head CTs, head CT angiography and/or brain MRI to assess cognitive impairment, researchers found that Black patients were over 9 percent less likely than White patients and over 16 percent less likely than Hispanic patients to receive brain MRI.
Could an Emerging AI System Lead to Earlier Autism Detection with DT-MRI?
November 21st 2023Through assessment of diffusion tensor MRI of the brain, a new AI system reportedly offers a 97 percent sensitivity rate in diagnosing autism in children between two to four years of age, according to research to be presented at the annual Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) conference next week.
Study Says Contrast-Enhanced Mammography Offers Comparable Breast Cancer Detection to MRI
November 15th 2023In findings from an enriched cohort of asymptomatic patients with screening-detected abnormalities, researchers found that contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM) was superior to conventional mammography and offered equivalent detection of breast cancer in comparison to breast MRI and abbreviated breast MRI.