Quote:
Originally Posted by officedepot
I think if you really think that the future of radiology is in outpatient centers run by radiologists
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I am only focusing on one facet of radiology - the outpatient setting. I am not talking about other areas like inpatient and ED. I have my thoughts on those too, but I don't want to write a book.
Like I said, I think that radiology has a bright future. You just have to be smart on how you approach it. Like most of medicine, it's changing. However, it's different from most of medicine because it's under assault from not one but two fronts. 1) Reimbursements are being cut, like they are for most of medicine. 2) Subspecialists clamoring to do their own imaging and procedures because they want to increase or maintain their incomes. Subspecialists have the advantage most of the time because they control patient flow, especially inpatient and academic settings. In these settings, the subspecialists won't encroach on a study if 1) has too many "extra" stuff or high litigation risk (mammo, lungs, abdomen) 2) too difficult to master (mammo, high-end IR for now). Reimbursement levels don't seem to deter academic subspecialists too much from what I've seen, ie, ED docs trying to read their own chest x-rays (only get $5 each). However, that is not true in the outpatient setting for screening exams. In fact, the reverse is true. With VC, CT lung + heart screenings, mammo, etc, radiology is probably the strongest there and radiologists need to take advantage of it.
If I have to choose residency again, would I still chose radiology knowing what I know today? Yes, because the residency is tolerable and the specialty fits my interests and personality the best. Would I choose medicine again? Probably not.