Current Clinical Practice Patterns of Self-Identified Nuclear Medicine Specialists.
AJR Am J Roentgenol
; 211(5): 978-985, 2018 11.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30085843
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of our study was to study patterns of services rendered by U.S. physicians who self-identify as nuclear medicine (NM) specialists. MATERIALS ANDMETHODS:
Recent Medicare physician claims and demographic files were obtained and linked. NM specialists were defined as physicians self-identifying NM as their primary specialty on claims or as any of their specialties during enrollment. Using other self-identified specialties, we classified physicians as nuclear radiologists, nuclear cardiologists, exclusively NM physicians, or Others. Our primary outcome measure was the percentage of NM effort (in work relative value units [WRVUs]) per physician per specialty group. Secondary outcome measures included physician sociodemographic parameters and most common uniquely rendered services.RESULTS:
Nationally, 1583 physicians self-identified as NM specialists during the calendar years 2012 through 2015. The distribution of WRVUs attributed to NM varied widely by specialty group; most nuclear radiologists and nuclear cardiologists devoted 10% or less of their effort to NM services whereas most NM physicians devoted 90% or more of their effort to NM services. NM specialists were most commonly nuclear radiologists (52.2%) and men (80.3%) and practiced in urban (98.4%) and nonacademic settings (62.9%). NM physicians interpreted more general NM studies, nuclear radiologists interpreted more cross-sectional imaging studies, and nuclear cardiologists interpreted mostly nuclear cardiology studies, with a majority of their overall work attributed to clinical evaluation and management (E/M). E/M services accounted for less than 2% of WRVUs for both nuclear radiologists and NM physicians.CONCLUSION:
The work patterns of U.S. NM specialists is highly variable. Most NM physicians practice 90% or more NM, whereas most nuclear radiologists and nuclear cardiologists practice 10% or less NM. Commonly performed services vary considerably by specialty group.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Padrões de Prática Médica
/
Carga de Trabalho
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Medicina Nuclear
Tipo de estudo:
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Adult
/
Aged
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Female
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Humans
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Male
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Middle aged
País/Região como assunto:
America do norte
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2018
Tipo de documento:
Article