by
Brendon Nafziger, DOTmed News Associate Editor | June 21, 2011
"We're proof. We've changed. We got on board with radiologists in the valley and we've improved patient care," Rob Hibner, director of radiology at the hospital, told the paper.
Others have seen positive changes, too. Memorial Medical Center of West Michigan in Ludington, which in 2008 gave 89 percent of its Medicare chest patients double CT scans, the highest rate in the nation, said it cut its rate in half last year, through a physician and staff education program, according to the Post. This year, so far, its rate is a low 3.4 percent, the Post reported.
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And St. John Health System in Tulsa, Ariz. said after setting up a new scanning protocol, it went from a 2008 double CT scan rate of 80 percent to around 5 percent, according to the Times.
A better picture on hospitals' progress could come next month, when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is expected to release 2009 numbers. But people who have seen the figures say not much has changed.
"When I saw the 2009 numbers, they were the same essentially, and I was disquieted by that," Dr. Michael J. Pentecost, a radiologist and Medicare consultant, told the Times.
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