Many experts say routinely performing a type of chest scan should be used rarely, subjecting patients to double doses of radiation and driving up health-care costs.
In a Double CT Scan, patients get two imaging tests consecutively: one without dye and the other with dye injected into their veins. Providence Hospital in Northeast Washington and nearly one of every six hospitals in Virginia were among those performing double scans particularly frequently, according to the most recently published government Medicare data, from 2008.
In a Double CT Scan, patients get two imaging tests consecutively: one without dye and the other with dye injected into their veins. Providence Hospital in Northeast Washington and nearly one of every six hospitals in Virginia were among those performing double scans particularly frequently, according to the most recently published government Medicare data, from 2008.
The government is taking a closer look at scans because imaging tests are among the fastest growing procedures in health care. Medicare’s Hospital Compare Web site now publishes individual hospital rates of double chest scans, along with rates for several other kinds of imaging. Medicare doesn’t restrict the use of double scans or penalize those who perform lots of them.
Nationwide, hospitals performed double scans on 5.4 percent of Medicare patients who received chest CTs in emergency rooms or hospital radiology units where they were referred by their doctors. Those scans totaled 76,781 in 2008. The overall number was certainly higher, as patients with private insurance, Medicaid or no coverage also get double scans, but no one tracks the number.
Experts say almost all chest problems can be properly diagnosed with a single scan. But some physicians who order the tests still value double scans for gathering the most information possible. Hospitals and radiologists are paid more for the double scans, so they have a disincentive to crack down on them...
Read full articles...
Nationwide, hospitals performed double scans on 5.4 percent of Medicare patients who received chest CTs in emergency rooms or hospital radiology units where they were referred by their doctors. Those scans totaled 76,781 in 2008. The overall number was certainly higher, as patients with private insurance, Medicaid or no coverage also get double scans, but no one tracks the number.
Experts say almost all chest problems can be properly diagnosed with a single scan. But some physicians who order the tests still value double scans for gathering the most information possible. Hospitals and radiologists are paid more for the double scans, so they have a disincentive to crack down on them...
