What is a radiologist visit worth? 3 takeaways from a new patient survey

It’s no secret that radiology is rapidly changing, with more and more focus being put on defining and demonstrating value. The good news for radiologists, according to a recent study published by the American Journal of Roentgenology, is that patients value their assessment of images over interpreters who aren’t radiologists. Some patients are even willing to pay for a one-on-one meeting.

Lead author Jason G. Domina, MD, department of radiology at the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said the changing climate in healthcare has made it more important than ever for radiologists and their patients to be on the same page.

“As electronic medical records develop, radiology reports and images have become more accessible, with patients desiring access to these images and reports,” the authors wrote. “As a result, we subsequently have increasing incentive and momentum to establish and improve the patient-radiologist interaction.”

Domina et al. surveyed more than 1,900 adult radiology patients from a university and a community hospital, gauging their understanding of radiology and their interest in meeting with a radiologist.

These are three key takeaways from the team’s findings:

1. Patients want to meet their radiologist—and some would pay for it

Eighty-four percent of respondents said they would be interested in meeting with a radiologist. Forty-three percent said they would pay $0 for such a meeting, 37 percent would pay $10-$30 and 20 percent would pay $40 or more.

“For a certain subset of patients willing to pay a higher premium, a radiology consultation service could be financially feasible,” the authors wrote. “Hurdles in terms of reimbursement would have to be addressed, including medicolegal issues regarding government payers (Medicare and Medicaid), where such an extra fee might amount to fraud, given that a consultation service would fall under the umbrella of image interpretation in terms of payment. However, for private insurance and payers, this would likely be less of an issue.”

2. Educational materials can improve a patient's understanding of radiology

A key aspect of the authors’ study was that they surveyed patients about their understanding of radiology and what a radiologist does both before and after being given an educational handout.

Before the material was provided, 73 percent of respondents said the radiologist was the person who interpreted images.

Domina and colleagues stressed that educating patients is a key part of demonstrating the value of radiologists.

“This is a way to bring radiologists to the forefront as image interpreters and to show the value of the services that we provide,” the authors wrote.

3. Patients are more comfortable with radiologists interpreting their images than nurses, assistants

Questions about the patients' comfort level were included in the study’s initial surveys, and the data revealed much higher comfort levels with trained physicians than a nurse or physician assistant. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 representing the lowest level of comfort, the mean comfort level score fell in a range of 5.1 to 5.3 when patients were asked about nurses or physician assistants in various healthcare settings. When the question was asked about trained physicians, however, the range of answers jumped to anywhere from 9.2 to 9.5.

However, after reading educational materials and a second survey was given, patients expressed a lower level of comfort for nonradiologists. For radiologists, the shift was much less dramatic.

“Fortunately, patients expressed a high level of comfort with a trained image interpreter (i.e., a radiologist) on both the initial and follow-up surveys,” the authors wrote.

The authors said their study did have some limitations. For instance, the data was collected from patients who live in the same basic geographic area. Also, some patients filled out the initial survey but did not fill out the follow-up survey after receiving educational materials.

Other Radiology Business content related to the topic of patient perception can be found here and here.