Regular articleRecent Trends in Utilization Rates of Noncardiac Thoracic Imaging: An Example of How Imaging Growth Might Be Controlled
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
Our data source was the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Physician/Supplier Procedure Summary Master Files for 1996 through 2005. These are the summary tables for the nationwide Medicare Part B data sets for all beneficiaries in the Medicare fee-for-service program. We determined the number of beneficiaries in this program each year from the Medicare State County file. The master files provide data on each code in the Current Procedural Terminology®, Fourth Edition, manual. These data
Results
Table 1 shows the changes in utilization rates per 1,000 Medicare beneficiaries within the 5 imaging categories between 1996 and 2005. Among all 3 of the aforementioned provider classes combined (shown in the first 2 data columns), the overall utilization rate increased from 1,044.1 per 1,000 in 1996 to 1,051.6 per 1,000 in 2005, a 1% increase. During those years, the CXR utilization rate dropped from 995.2 to 941.5 (−5%), and the radionuclide scan rate dropped from 16.9 to 8.3 (−51%). At the
Discussion
There was almost no change in the overall utilization rate of noncardiac thoracic imaging between 1996 and 2005. The recognition of the increased value of CT in the diagnosis of pulmonary emboli and other chest diseases has resulted in a rapid rise in the utilization of that technique. However, it has been largely offset by a concomitant drop in the utilization of CXR and radionuclide scans, a good example of a newer and better technology substituting for older technologies. It should of course
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This study was supported in part by a grant from the American College of Radiology, Reston, Virginia.