DOTmed April 7, 2025
Nearly 44% of office-based medical imaging exams are interpreted by the same non-radiologist providers who ordered them, according to a new study from the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute.
The findings raise questions about diagnostic accuracy and potential financial incentives linked to self-referral practices.
The analysis, published in the American Journal of Roentgenology, examined over 1.6 million 2022 Medicare fee-for-service claims for imaging ordered in outpatient settings by non-radiologists. Researchers found that 43.6% of these studies were interpreted by the ordering provider, and 58.5% were read within the ordering provider’s practice.
Interpretation rates varied by modality. Self-reads were most common for ultrasound (52.0%) and radiography or fluoroscopy (50.4%). In contrast, only 5.3% of CT scans and 6.1% of MRIs...
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