Radiologist-Specialist Turf Battle in Texas

[Ericokle]

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Radiologists see overuse of patient scans; specialists see turf battle

Lawmakers expected to be asked to referee dispute between radiologists and other doctors investing in own scanning equipment.

By Mary Ann Roser
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Thursday, January 08, 2009
Are you being overexposed?
Some Texas radiologists — the doctors who use scans such as CT and MRI to see inside the body — say yes. And they want the Legislature to consider regulating who can scan, where the scanning is done and who reads the tests.
Once lawmakers convene for a new session Tuesday, radiologists plan to ask them to order a study of who owns scanning equipment, hoping to curb what they say is a growing problem: a rising number of scans being done by specialists who are not radiologists but who own advanced imaging equipment.
They say this is a conflict of interest that is driving up health care costs and exposing some patients to unnecessary radiation.

[...]

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/01/08/0108radiology.html

 

[Wrigleyville]

Common sense says a doctor should not have a financial interest in tests they order. If the cards think they would do a better job with Cardiac CT, so be it, but don't let them run their own patients through the wringer for $$$. Other doctors should have to order the test.