If more than 2,500 physicians responding to a national survey reflect the changing state of clinical decision-making, MRI is frequently getting rationed due to doctors’ concerns about cost. In fact, only drug prescriptions are curtailed more—and not by much. 

When it comes to adapting to U.S. healthcare’s transition from volume- to value-based reimbursement, radiology is “leading the charge for non-patient-facing providers in a world that’s geared almost entirely around the direct patient-facing experience.”

A radiologist at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics is almost as much a product developer and entrepreneur as he is a physician. For that reason he’s drawn the attention of the business and technology publisher Xconomy. 

A major medical school and its affiliated health system have been hit with a multimillion-dollar fraud settlement after two radiologists were caught billing for mandatory reviews of residents’ interpretations that the experienced rads never actually looked at.

An analysis of the Golden State’s system of penalizing healthcare providers responsible for harming patients has revealed that the program is doing nothing to reduce medical errors. 

In the not-so-distant future, patients bearing imaging-capable smartphones will put doctors’ offices out of business. Oh, the docs themselves will still have jobs. But many will be working from home.

When radiologists collaborate with referring physicians to proactively manage imaging utilization, the participation of the radiologist has more weight tipping the scale toward success than does the specialty of the referrer. And the rad’s input has the greatest impact on primary care physicians who are heavy orderers of imaging exams.

In 2013 Boston Medical Center, a 496-bed teaching hospital affiliated with Boston University, bit the bullet and rolled out 24/7 in-house attending radiology with an eye on improving patient care. The bitten bullet ended up carrying an annual price tag of $850,000. Have the returns been worth the investment?