Nearly 40% of radiologists surveyed say 21st Century Cures Act has increased job-related stress
Close to 40% of radiologists surveyed say the 21st Century Cures Act has increased their job-related stress.
The landmark legislation was first implemented in April 2021, mandating the immediate release of nearly all medical tests results to patients. Since then, the time gap between imaging results availability and patient viewing has decreased “substantially,” experts detailed Oct. 2 in JACR.
Researchers recently aimed to assess how Cures Act requirements have impacted radiologists, conducting a survey of nearly 300 specialists (for a 4% response rate).
“Although radiologists play a critical role in the conveyance of medical information to patients by generating reports that summarize and interpret imaging findings, how the Cures Act has affected these physicians remains largely unstudied,” Jessica H. Porembka, MD, with the Department of Radiology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, and colleagues noted, adding that their aim was to assess the impact on clinical practice, well-being and job satisfaction.
They administered their 24-question survey in May 2024, targeting a randomly selected sample of 7,500 American College of Radiology members. The final study group was made up mostly of diagnostic specialists (93%), with about 40% in practice for more than 20 years.
Around 32% of respondents felt their workload had increased since implementation of the Cures Act compared to 68% who did not. Another 29% said their job satisfaction has worsened since 2021, while only 1% indicated it had improved. Meanwhile, 39% said their job-related stress has increased versus 61% who reported no changes. Female radiologists faced significantly greater chances of reporting ill effects from the law change, and the same went for those working full time or in non-teaching settings.
While 81% of radiologists felt that reports should be released to patients, 71% believe they shouldn’t be shared immediately. Another 39% said reports should only be released to patients by the ordering provider rather than the radiologist. More than 50% said they had seen changes in the time spent writing radiology reports, the timing of their release and the content. Patient reactions, anxiety and the reporting of new diagnoses were key factors influencing radiologists’ decision to alter reports.
The Cures Act also appears to have influenced radiologist communication patterns, Porembka and colleagues found. For instance, about 30% of respondents said referring providers have contacted them more frequently for clarification, or to add an addendum to a report, since 2021. Another 39% said patients are contacting them more frequently, too, while 21% said healthcare consumers are reaching out to referrers more frequently.
Free-text comments indicated that breast radiologists have been more burdened by these changes. That’s because, unlike most other radiology subspecialists, these docs hold primary responsibility for recommending and discussing biopsies and pathology results with patients.
Read more, including potential study limitations, in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.
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.