The researchers also conducted a deeper evaluation of the types of clinical work IRs perform. In the Medicare data, IRs dedicate more time to procedural work, whereas in the commercial and Medicare Advantage dataset, a higher proportion of effort is dedicated to evaluation and management. “The smaller proportion of evaluation and management work billed to Medicare Part B versus private insurers may reflect more complex requirements by Medicare for evaluation and management reimbursement, rather than actual differences in the care delivered to Medicare patients,” explained author Raymond Liu, MD, Vice President, Mass General Brigham Global Advisory. “Medicare has made efforts to simplify these requirements, so future research may find greater parity for IRs between payers.”
“The HPI and SIR joined forces for this research because of the need for methods that improve the generalizability and comparability across claims-based IR studies, and it is our hope that this work leads to growth in research investigating the value of this field of medicine to patients and populations,” said author Laura Findeiss, MD.
About the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute
The Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute is one of the nation’s leading medical imaging socioeconomic research organizations. The Neiman Institute studies the role and value of radiology and radiologists in evolving health care delivery and payment systems and the impact of medical imaging on the cost, quality, safety and efficiency of health care.
Back to HCB News
