“Alarming” results from a new study show the problematic distribution of radiology practices, with implications for improving health equity.
Across 1,555 county-based coverages by radiologists in New Jersey, nearly 45% were in areas that fell into the top one-third of household incomes relative to the rest of the state. Statistical analyses revealed a “significant” difference in county-based coverage depending on income, researchers detailed in Cureus.
“From a public health standpoint that underscores health equity, this is an extremely alarming trend especially given the already apparent disparity in the rates of certain radiologic procedures, such as diagnostic and screening mammograms, within low-income communities,” William J. Lee, with the Rutgers University New Jersey Medical School in Newark, and co-authors wrote Aug. 14. “An inequitable distribution of radiologist coverage as evidenced by the present study can further serve to exacerbate these community-wide systemic health disparities.”
Lee et al. gathered information on practicing physicians from the New Jersey Health Care Profile database, maintained by the state’s Division of Consumer Affairs. Household income and population figures came from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The search uncovered 1,186 board-certified radiologists actively practicing in New Jersey, including 86% in diagnostics and 14% on the interventional side. About 25% practiced in counties within the middle-one-third of household incomes, and 31% operated in counties falling in the bottom one-third. Lee et al. estimated that there is about 1 radiologist for every 5,861 residents in counties occupied by the wealthiest Garden State residents. Conversely, there is 1 radiologist for every 7,861 in counties home to the bottom one-third of household incomes.
“This is yet again extremely concerning given that there is already an abundance of evidence to suggest that lower-income communities are in greater need of healthcare resource allocation,” the authors wrote.
Meanwhile, three low-income counties—Essex, Camden and Atlantic—seemed to buck these trends, with low numbers of individuals per radiologist to rival high-income geographies. The study, however, did not delve into what imaging leaders in these areas have done to boost these numbers.
“This finding is a concrete measure of successful radiologist recruitment efforts within these counties during the past few years to combat the increased prevalence of disease and associated complications that historically marginalized communities tend to disproportionately exhibit,” the authors advised. “Other low-income counties should look to what Essex, Camden, and Atlantic County have done to increase radiologist recruitment to levels that rival those of high-income areas.”
Read more in Cureus, which is part of the Springer Nature Group, at the link below, including potential study limitation.
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.