Out-of-pocket costs (OOPCs) have been largely eliminated for screening mammography. However, patients still face OOPCs when undergoing subsequent diagnostic tests after the initial screening, which represents a potential barrier to those who require follow-up testing after initial testing. This study examines the association between the degree of patient cost-sharing and the use of diagnostic breast cancer imaging after undergoing a screening mammogram. Full Article
Danny R. Hughes, PhD; William Espinoza, MS; Sarah Fein, MS; Elizabeth Y. Rula, PhD; Geraldine McGinty, MD, MBA. 2023. "Patient Cost-Sharing and Utilization of Breast Cancer Diagnostic Imaging by Patients Undergoing Subsequent Testing After a Screening Mammogram," JAMA Network Open
The researchers objective was to examine the association of treatment and neuroimaging with ischemic stroke total hospital cost growth for the Medicare fee-for-service population. Full Article
Eric W. Christensen, PhD , Casey E. Pelzl, MPH, Jennifer Hemingway, MS, Jason J. Wang, PhD, Maria X. Sanmartin, PhD, Jason J. Naidich, MD, MBA, Elizabeth Y. Rula, PhD, Pina C. Sanelli, MD, MPH. 2022. "Drivers of Ischemic Stroke Hospital Cost Trends Among Older Adults in the United States," Journal of American College of Radiology (JACR)
August 1, 2022
Our principal research scientist in health economics, Eric W. Christensen, PhD, discusses the disparities by race/ethnicity, sex, age, and income that are present in nearly every instance they are examined — creating concerning inequities for medical professionals. Read the ACR Bulletin August Column
August 1, 2022
As the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute celebrates 10 years, Richard Duszak Jr., MD, FACR, discusses the HPI’s role in health policy research past, present, and future in the July ACR Bulletin Research Rounds column. Read the JACR Bulletin Column
The number and roles of US nonphysician practitioners (NPPs) have expanded considerably, but little is known about their use by radiology practices. The authors assessed characteristics and trends of radiology practices employing Medicare-recognized NPPs. Full Article
Stefan Santavicca, MS, Danny R. Hughes, PhD, Andrew B. Rosenkrantz, MD, MPA, Eric Rubin, MD, Richard Duszak Jr., MD. 2022. "Radiology Practices Employing Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants: Characteristics and Trends From 2017 Through 2019," Journal of American College of Radiology (JACR)
March 4, 2022
The number and roles of US nonphysician practitioners (NPPs) have expanded considerably, but little is known about their use by radiology practices. The authors assessed characteristics and trends of radiology practices employing Medicare-recognized NPPs.
Intracranial mechanical thrombectomy (MT) is increasingly indicated for use in acute ischemic stroke patients. The researchers analyzed recent trends in the characteristics and geographic distributions of physicians providing this service with frequency to Medicare beneficiaries. Full Article
Keshav Jayaraman, Stefan Santavicca, Danny R Hughes, Joshua A Hirsch, Richard Duszak, Jr., Arindam R Chatterjee. 2022. "Recent Trends in High-volume Medicare Stroke Thrombectomy Provider Characteristics," Journal of NeuroInterventional Surgery
Between September and October 2021, the researchers manually searched the websites of all hospitals listed in the Medicare Hospital Compare Quality of Care database with publicly available OP-8 scores. OP-8 is a CMS imaging quality metric showing the annual percentage of patients undergoing lumbar spine MRI for back pain in an outpatient facility and was used to identify hospitals offering lumbar spine MRI. Hospital compliance with the CMS price transparency mandate was determined by a multivariable model. Read the study for full details. Full Article
Richard Lin, BS, Richard Duszak Jr., MD, Ruth Carlos, MD, Gelareh Sadigh, MD. 2022. "Relationship Between Hospital Compliance With Medicare’s Price Transparency Rule, Proposed Cash Prices, and Consumer Ratings for MRI Spine," Journal of American College of Radiology (JACR)
In this cohort study of 794,809 commercially insured men from 2011 to 2017 undergoing a prostate-specific antigen test, Black and Hispanic patients were significantly less likely than White patients to undergo
prostate magnetic resonance imaging after receiving an elevated test score. Full Article
Nino Abashidze, PhD, Chad Stecher, PhD, Andrew B. Rosenkrantz, MD, MPA, Richard Duszak Jr, MD, Danny R. Hughes, PhD. 2021. "Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Use of Prostate Magnetic Resonance Imaging Following an Elevated Prostate-Specific Antigen Test," JAMA Network Open
We aimed to assess early COVID-19 pandemic-associated changes in brain MRI examination frequency and acuity of imaging findings acuity. Full Article
Taejin L. Min, MD, Liyan Xu, MS,Jinho D.Choi, PhD, Ranliang Hu, MD, Jason W.Allen, MD,PhD, Christopher Reeves, MD, Derek Hsu,MD, Richard Duszak Jr.,MD, Jeffrey Switchenko, PhD, Gelareh Sadigh, MD. 2021. "COVID-19 Pandemic-Associated Changes in the Acuity of Brain MRI Findings: A Secondary Analysis of Reports Using Natural Language Processing," Current Problems in Diagnostic Radiology
