TRENDS IN THE USE OF RADIOLOGY WITH INPATIENTS - WHAT HAS CHANGED IN A DECADE

OBJECTIVE. Our goal was to evaluate trends in the use of radiology wit h inpatients in the 10-year period of 1984-1993. MATERIALS AND METHODS . We retrospectively reviewed administrative data from a 751-bed, tert iary care hospital between October 1, 1983, and September 30, 1993 (fi scal years 1984-1993). We coded each study by imaging technique: CT, M R imaging, sonography, nuclear medicine, or conventional studies (plai n films and fluoroscopy). Echocardiography, cardiac catheterization, a nd angioplasty procedures were omitted. The number of admissions per y ear was adjusted for severity of disease (case-mix-adjusted admission [CMA]). We used relative value units to evaluate workload changes duri ng the study period, We assessed significance of trends using linear r egression analysis, RESULTS, The total number of imaging studies per C MA decreased during the study period (p = .0001). This was due to a de crease in the number of conventional studies (p = .0001) and sonograms per CMA (p = .02), despite significant increases in the numbers of CT (p = .005) and MR imaging (p = .0001) studies per CMA. No significant change existed in the number of nuclear medicine studies per CMA (p = .11). The global, professional, and technical relative value units pe r CMA rose during the latter half of the study. CONCLUSION. The overal l number of imaging studies per CMA decreased during the decade, despi te a significant rise in the use of CT and MR imaging, suggesting that these new imaging techniques are replacing older ones, To control fur ther increases in overall imaging costs, priority should be placed on understanding the patterns of use for CT and MR imaging techniques and curbing their inappropriate use.