First Advisor

Cahill, Michael

College

Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions

Degree Name

MS Health Services Administration

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Number of Pages

73 pages

Abstract

Objective: Purpose of this study was to assess the opinions of Radiologist, Radiology Technologist, and Radiology Administrators, as to their belief if CAT Scan and MRI are over utilized, to determine if there are best practices in place if there is over utilization, and set the basis for future studies. Methods: After analyzing several methods, it was determined the most appropriate way to understand what individual's thoughts are, and what they are doing was to reach out to the above groups using a descriptive survey. A survey using the Website www.surveymonkey.com was created to investigate the opinions of radiologists, radiology administrator, CAT Scan and MRI technologists on the utilization of CT and MRI, and to find what their organizations have put into place to help resolve the problem, The survey was distributed via e-mail by the AHRA to its current and past members of approximately 9000. Results: The data was collected from 380 respondents to the 14 question survey. The majority of the respondents were radiology administrators, radiology directors, or radiology managers with 58% of those respondents working in non for profit hospitals. The mean CAT Scan volume was 2400 exams per year, 66% of those surveyed said that volume has increased over the past five years. The mean MRI volume was 8589 with 62% of respondents saying MRI volume has increased over the past 5 years. The majority 62% felt that these imaging modalities are over utilized in the United States, while 45.7% felt they were over utilized in their own organizations. 58% said they did not have anything in place. Of those who did have a program in place 49.9% were using ACR criteria 83.6% said they have heard of ACR criteria. Organizations were putting programs in place due to concerns of radiation exposure and health care cost concerns. 88.3% were concerned with radiation exposure in CAT Scan. Conclusions: The awareness of over utilization is out there, however many are choosing to do nothing at this time. The most common best practice is using ACR criteria to guide decision making. Radiation concerns and health care cost are driving factors in reducing over utilization.

Date of Award

Fall 2011

Location (Creation)

Colorado (state); Denver (county); Denver (inhabited place)

Rights Statement

All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.

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