How Radiologists Are Paid: An Economic History, Part II: Advanced Imaging and Radiologists' Incomes

Abstract

The advent of the CT scanner in the early 1970s removed much, if not all, of the morbidity and discomfort previously associated with diagnostic imaging studies. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, advances in CT technology allowed radiologists to scan "better and faster." The professional fee for reading a CT study was higher than for reading a radiograph, an uncontroversial policy. But estimating the technical fee for using CT (and later MR) raised problems that would persist for at least 30 years. Consistently generous technical fees created potential incentives to create and fill advanced imaging capacity and contributed to the emerging problem of health care inflation.