Medical imaging has become increasingly expensive to the point that the people who need health care the most are forced to get their most routine health care in the Emergency Room. There are three major forces in play here, which include hospital profits, medical legal responsibility shifting, and insurance profits.
We all know that the radiology department makes up a large part of operating costs and profits for a hospital system. Oftentimes, the radiology department is what will fund other less profitable departments in the hospital, as well as high-paid hospital executives. It is not unusual for the radiology department to contribute more than 10% of a hospital’s revenue. When we look at outpatient imaging at imaging centers, it is found that radiology contributes up to 35% of a hospital’s profit.
Meanwhile, physicians order so many radiology exams because of the fear of being sued in a malpractice case. Clinicians used to make a diagnosis based on their physical exam. However, that is no longer the case. Now it is easier to just let someone else make the diagnosis and therefore shift the liability. It is the radiologist who makes the majority of diagnoses for a patient. Your clinician is simply sharing the diagnosis the radiologist gave them with you as the patient.
Finally, believe it or not, but insurance profits are contributing greatly to radiology imaging. It is becoming more and more common for insurance companies not to pay for a drug or surgery unless expensive advanced imaging or consultation by a specialist has been done first. Once the patient sees the specialist, then the specialist orders the expensive procedure due to liability shifting as above.
HGIC is independent of these financial traps, which greatly drive up imaging costs at other health care systems. We do not have a host of high-paid executives; we are used to making the diagnosis ourselves, and finally, if your insurance does not pay for the exam, then we can provide the imaging at a reasonable and fair price.
