From volume ups and downs to site-neutral payment, 2021’s top 11 radiology trends to watch
Fluctuations in imaging volumes will continue throughout the year, with experts labeling such ups and downs one of the top radiology trends to watch in 2021.
Patients may continue to defer care because of the pandemic, and unemployment alongside capacity reductions may further threaten the specialty’s recovery. But other factors such as new imaging tracers will drive PET/CT growth through this year and beyond, Alliance Healthcare Radiology shared in a recent analysis.
The firm labeled “volume ups, downs and swings” as its No. 1 imaging trend to watch in 2021.
“Overall imaging volumes will continue to recover as the pandemic recedes,” the Irvine, California-based firm wrote. “Significant decreases in preventive care at the start of COVID-19 resulted in reports of patients presenting with more serious or advanced illnesses. Year-over-year increases in screenings at the end of the year may now be contributing to earlier detection and better advanced diagnostic and treatment options,” it added later.
Alliance expects that new price transparency laws will have consumers carefully shopping for diagnostic services. Now more than ever, practices must make sure that they’re demonstrating value. Stemming from that trend, the group expects major payers to continue expanding site-neutral reimbursement for advanced imaging.
“A clear outpatient strategy is paramount for hospitals who wish to maintain imaging as a necessary community service and the ‘front door’ of downstream care,” the group noted in No. 3 on its analysis.
You can check out the rest of the list—covering topics including mobile imaging, partnerships, artificial intelligence and workplace culture—below.
Alliance is a provider of healthcare consulting and solutions, operating across 47 states and working with more than 1,100 hospitals and physician groups and 100-plus fixed-site imaging locations. Its Chinese investment owners were reportedly considering a sale at one point last year, and the firm recently acquired a handful of PET/CT imaging centers.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.