{mosads}The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has long argued that imaging costs are out of control because doctors order too many tests of questionable benefit. The new report suggests that lawmakers instead focus on tools that can help influence clinical decisions before a diagnostic choice is made.
“Evidence suggests that these tools are efficacious when they are available — and when they are used,” the report concludes. “Yet the vast majority of physicians ordering diagnostic imaging services are not presently exposed to these tools, or expected to use them.”