Physicians most often agree with follow-up imaging recommendations from thoracic radiologists, according to a study published Nov. 15 in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.
Researchers from Boston-based Brigham and Woman's Hospital and Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania Health System used an integrated tool to track when radiologists sent follow-up imaging recommendations and whether referring providers agreed with the recommendations.
Here are five notes from the study:
- The study took place between Oct. 21, 2019, and Oct. 31, 2022, and included 9,406 recommendations.
- Of all the recommendations, 88.6% resulted in agreement.
- Providers were most likely to disagree with radiologist recommendations if they believed the follow-up was not clinically relevant. Other factors for disagreement were if the provider was a surgeon or if the radiologist's recommendation included nuclear imaging.
- Recommendations were more often agreed with if they were made by a thoracic radiologist and if the recommendation was given with a longer follow-up time frame.
- Race, ethnicity, insurance and socioeconomic factors did not significantly affect whether a provider agreed or disagreed with a radiologist's recommendation.
Read the full study here.