Community radiology practices suffer sizable imaging volume declines, with breast imaging hit hardest
Community-based radiology practices suffered massive declines in patient visits during recent months, with mammography one of the hardest hit service lines.
That’s according to a new analysis of imaging data from nine such providers located across the country, published July 3 in JACR. All told, work relative value units dipped roughly 52% from their height of more than 120,000 in February to the low point of 55,000 in April.
Researchers noted that their data lends further evidence to the monumental challenges practice leaders currently face and may help in strategizing for the coming months.
“Our findings support widespread anecdotal as well as early published reports of massive declines in imaging volumes and revenue that have led to great concern across radiology practices,” wrote lead author Richard Duszak Jr., MD, with Atlanta-based Emory University’s Department of Radiology, and colleagues. “With no end in sight to the current pandemic, such information could prove actionable for both radiologist workforce and practice financial planning, particularly if a predicted potentially disastrous ‘second wave’ of coronavirus disease indeed materializes,” they added later.
Duszak et al. made their determination by analyzing imaging metadata captured between January 2019 and May 2020. They broke down volume trends by modality, body region and site of service.
During that plummet from the February peak, outpatient imaging sustained the hardest hit, dropping by 66%. Calculated as a percentage of total all-practice wRVUs, the authors wrote, CT (down 31%) and radiography/fluoroscopy (30%) saw the greatest declines. And abdomen/pelvis (down 25%) and breast (19%) experienced the greatest declines by body part.
Across all of the different modality-region groups, mammography declines were by far the greatest at roughly 92%, Duszak and colleagues determined.
The analysis is the latest in a string of studies noting the substantial challenges radiology practices have faced since the COVID crisis started. Back in May, New York hospital giant Northwell Health similarly reported steep drops in outpatient imaging, with mammography also the biggest sore spot.
You can read more of Duszak and company’s pre-proof analysis in the Journal of the American College of Radiology here.
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.