Massachusetts General Hospital-affiliated imaging centers have suffered steeper declines in visits when compared to the organization’s main campus, and they’re also taking longer to recover from the crisis.
Overall, the Boston-based institution logged a 54% drop in average weekly imaging volume at its main hub following the state’s March 10 emergency declaration. But the dip went as low as 64% at its 26 outpatient sites, experts wrote Friday in Academic Radiology.
“Interestingly, we noticed that not only was the extent of imaging volume decrease greater at affiliated imaging centers than at the main hospital campus, the rate of volume recovery was also slower,” radiology resident Min Lang, MD, and colleagues wrote Aug. 15.
Reasons for the slower rebound, the team wrote, may have included patients and referrers further postponing elective imaging, or affiliated sites taking longer to reopen than their hospital counterparts. Care delays may have also exacerbated individuals’ health conditions, leading them to seek higher-acuity care at the main campus, rather than satellite locations.
Lang et al. reached their conclusions by analyzing imaging data from Mass General logged between Jan. 1 and May 21. They then separated estimates into a “pre-state of emergency period”—before Massachusetts made the declaration—versus after nonessential services were shuttered on March 24. Overall, imaging centers recovered slower from the drop, at a slope of 6.95 additional studies per weekday compared to 7.18 at the hospital. CT, radiography and ultrasound recorded the lowest volume losses, while mammography plummeted 92% at both location types.
The research team noted that affiliated imaging centers generate significant income for hospitals, while also capturing a large portion of outpatient imaging. The discrepancy between main campus was to be expected, they wrote, given that the hospital delivers more emergent, inpatient and outpatient studies. But the trend is concerning for physicians and hospital leaders, if it persists in the coming months.
“With the affiliated imaging centers contributing substantially to revenue, there are significant economic ramifications on healthcare systems and radiology groups from loss of imaging volume at these locations, including possible delay of expansion plans, delay of equipment maintenance and upgrade, hiring delays, staff furloughs, and even staff layoffs,” the team wrote.
To counter, Massachusetts General instituted temporary pay and benefit cuts, and wage freezes. But the best response to these trends will vary from one radiology practice to the next and depend on myriad factors including staffing needs and financial reserves.
“Short-term and long-term changes, therefore, need to be carefully implemented to weather the current economic climate,” the team advised.
Read more of the analysis from the Harvard-affiliated institution in Academic 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.