The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission reported this month the results of a study suggesting that when physicians have a financial interest in medical imaging equipment, they are more likely to order imaging tests and incur higher overall spending on their patients’ care.  The June MedPAC report is titled Report to the Congress: Improving Incentives in the Medicare Program.  Such an issue seems important to the current debate on health care reform and efforts to curb the rising costs of health care.  But is it of interest to readers of MassTortDefense?

Imaging, particularly the use of PET scans and CT scans, is a favorite tool of plaintiffs’ lawyers seeking medical monitoring. Currently before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is a case involving a proposed class action seeking CT scans for lung cancer. See Kathleen Donovan, et al. v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., SJC No. 10409 (Mass. SJC, argued June 9, 2009)

Multiple policy grounds support the decision to reject  medical monitoring. Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company v. Buckley, 521 U.S. 424 (1997). This imaging issue stands as yet another reason courts need to be careful with claims for medical monitoring and wary of plaintiff experts opining that imaging is reasonably medically necessary ( a typical element of a medical monitoring claim) because it is supposedly becoming more widely used. See Redland Soccer Club, Inc. v. Dept. of the Army and Dept. of Defense of the U.S., 548 Pa. 178, 696 A.2d 137, 145-46 (1997) (requiring the prescribed monitoring regime is reasonably necessary according to contemporary scientific principles); Wyeth, Inc. v. Gottlieb, 930 So.2d 635 (Fla.App. 3 Dist.2006) (same).

MedPAC is an independent advisory body charged with providing policy analysis and advice concerning the Medicare program, and issued its most recent report to Congress on imaging, among other topics.  The commission noted that rapid technological progress in diagnostic imaging over the last decade has enabled physicians to more effectively diagnose and treat certain illnesses. At the same time, use of medical imaging has grown in certain areas of the country, without a clear benefit in terms of the quality of care.   The report also noted that recent research indicates a particular expansion of in-office imaging as many physicians buy and use machines in their offices, rather than refer patients out.

The report cites the 2008 Government Accountability Office report which ties the growth in Medicare spending to the increase in physicians who perform advanced imaging services in their office. That GAO report found that Medicare spending for imaging services performed by doctors doubled from 2000 to 2006. In particular, costs for advanced imaging such as computed tomography (CT) scans and nuclear medicine rose faster than other standard previous imaging services such as MRIs.