the gloomy future of radiology

[monkey799]

Wondering what fellow rads, residents, and hopefuls think about the future of radiology.

 

I see two strong forces that could potentially ruin this wonderful specialty

 

(1) turf wars

 

Cardiology has already taken away cardiac imaging with their own self-created cardiac imaging training. Orthopods already reading their own MSK plain films. In Vancouver, 2 of the 3 interventional neuro staff are neurosurgeons. Potentially every other internal meds and surgical specialty can create their own 2-year "imaging fellowships". GIs and gen surg can read their abdo CTs, neuro / neurosurg their own brain CTs and MRIs etc. I think with 2 years of training each specialty can become quite competent in their areas of interest.

 

Since the clinical specialties control the patients, there is no reason for them to refer to radiology if they can manage to gain access to the machines.

 

At this point the only thing preventing them from doing so is healthcare billing, but that's just political issue.

 

(2) teleradiology

 

With the advancement of teleradiology and the need to save money for the healthcare system, there is no reason to outsource radiology reads to cheaper places like India, where radiologists are willing to settle for 1/10 the pay.

 

Currently there are legal and liability issues, but those are political issues which can be heavily influenced by the need to save money.

 

Already, foreign rad sweatshops are doing preliminary reads for many hospitals in US, with the US board-certified rads stamping the reports as final reads.

 

Ebay-like radiology bidding sites is becoming increasingly popular, such that rads will potentially out-bid one another for the lowest reimbursement for the study in a dog eat dog situation.

[Lactic Folly]

Some previous discussion (and posts from Ian):

http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13223

http://www.premed101.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13228&page=3