Americans For Responsible Imaging

Have you had a CAT scan in your doctor's office? How about an MRI or a PET? Did your doctor talk you out of going to the hospital for your test? Have you had multiple scans in your doctor's office?

Some doctors who own imaging equipment in their offices are abusing the American Healthcare system, extracting up to $16 Billion per year in unnecessary scanning revenue. Studies show that doctors who profit from scaning in their offices order from two to eight times as many exams as they would otherwise. This practice is hurting all of us by sending healthcare costs and insurance premiums spiraling out of control.

You can make a difference. Insist on having your study done in a hospital or an independent imaging center, where no one profits from self-referral. It's your life, your body, and your money.

Intel's Barrett blames broken health care system for U.S. job exodus

You don't think the American Healthcare system is in trouble? Read this from the chairman of Intel. It isn't very pretty. Here is some of what he said:

"Every job that can be moved out of the United States will be moved out ... because of health care costs,'' which averaged more than $6,000 per person in 2004, Barrett said..."The (health care) system is out of control, it's unstable, it's basically bankrupt, it gets worse each year and all we do is tinker around the edges when what we need are major fixes,'' Barrett said, adding that health care costs make it increasingly difficult for U.S. companies to compete with rivals abroad.

Barrett was more interested in seeing computerized stuff in hospitals than in stopping unnecessary scanning, but the problem is still obvious. Something has to be done before we lose the greatest healthcare system in the world!

A Good Article

Here is a very good article on the subject of self-referral:

http://www.imagingeconomics.com/issues/articles/2004-11_01.asp

All you have to do is "Google" the words "imaging" and "self-referral" and you will find many more!