Taurus said:
As if government cuts in imaging reimbursements and threat of outsourcing weren't bad enough, here's a new front on the (once?) mighty radiology specialty. RA's!
I can't help but feel that radiology is under siege and we're gonna lose out. And don't give me that spiel about organizing and applying political pressure. If doctors knew how to do that, medicine in general wouldn't be in the mess it finds itself in now.
http://www.acr.org/s_acr/doc.asp?CID=2540&DID=23840
Its is true we are under siege. But medicine in general has been under siege in this country for the last 20 years.
I challenge you to find ANY country in the world, where a doctor is better reimbursed than in America. That is not to say complacency is acceptable. But even with cuts in reimbursement radiology, (even medicine in general) is a pretty sweet gig. Look at other similar 1st world countries. In the more developed countries in Western Europe and South America, attending radiologists make little more than American residents. An attending in east Asia and a UK consultant radiologist make about 40% of what the typical American attending radiologist makes when converted to dollars (PPP). Canadian rads may make the similar figures to an American radiologist, but he/she is paid in Canadian dollars, and the income tax rate is much higher in Canada.
Furthermore Medicare funding IS a zero sum game. The funding pie is only so large and will not grow in the forseeable future. If one specialty gains a reimbursement code or gets a funding increase, that means a code in some other specialty got cut. Radiology is lucky to be at the forefront of technology and gets its hands on well-reimbursed new modalities. IE Breast MR, new interventions which are initially well reimbursed. Older technologies tend to get cuts in reimbursement.
When primarily IR did vascular stenting it reimbursed well, but now in the era of vascular surgery predominant stenting, funding has been cut. Each stent after the first gets only fraction of the reimbursement of the first.
When coronary CTA gets its own reimbursement code it will likely mean that diagnostic cath reimbursement will get cut, which is a threat to cardiology. CTA of the vessels will subplant the diagnostic caths that vascular surgeons took from radiologists.
If you think its the radiology climate is that bad, you are free to pursue another specialty, or move to where you think radiology is better. No one is holding a gun to your head.
Many, including myself, think that radiology continues to have an excellent future. If you decide to pursue radiology, I encourage you to be active in the ACR and do your part to contribute to research to further the field.
Good luck.
