SAN DIEGO-With improved technology, as well as increased availability and access, diagnostic imaging has become the fastest growing segment of health care spending, with estimates of 15% to 35% increases annually. As a result, concerned third-party payers have established radiology guidelines, and some have teamed with radiology benefit management companies (RBMs) to bring down costs.
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August 2007
In the field of otolaryngology, the most common imaging service used is computed tomography (CT), considered by many to be the gold standard diagnostic study for imaging of the paranasal sinuses for inflammatory disease.
According to Medicare databases, there’s been an increase of 61 percent in the use of CT studies from 2001 to 2005, said Brent Senior, MD, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. In the same time period, otolaryngology usage increased 195 percent.