I can’t have MRIs due to metal lodged in my body so CT scans are my next best bet. Thankfully this technology is available.
Why the angst that an owner of a commercial machine may want to realize a profit from it?
Because it is pushing up the cost of insurance and Medicare without any proven benefit yet. Have you read the story?
I read the article. ( And boy have I read a lot in this area lately )It is scary how the Medicare people were pushed into paying for this without clear cut requirements for doing the test. This has gone too far.
there are definite risks to this test and the thought of repetitive tests year after year can produce such a downside in medical care. And once the train has left the station on approval doctors see this as an extra profit center. ( ok, not all doctors ). this will drive up the cost of tax funded medical care.
there are specific situations where this test is invaluable, such as the ER.
I just had a thallium stress test done, and it covers quite a lot of information. then with the CT and there is some plaque...now what? We can’t determine what the significance of the findings are ( unless the blockage is so high that a stress test would have picked it up.),,,now do you do uneeded invasive proceedures?
there are very sure fire “bullets” in medicine..even aspirin has vagueness.
The problem comes if I am the cardiologist and I also own the CT Scanner. That gives me a monetary incentive to order a CT on everybody that walks through the door whether they need one or not.
However, if XYZ Imaging owns the CT and I have no financial stake in it, XYZ Imaging makes the profit and my income is not increased by ordering unnecessary CT's.
Such ventures were a big conflict of interest problem about 15 years ago until the Feds started cracking down on them.
because the benefit of the study has never been proven