Massachusetts doctors are quick to refer patients for expensive imaging services like MRI and CAT scanning, the Boston Business Journal reported this week—and it cost the federal government an estimated $27 million in 2015.
In that same year, Medicare spent $762.1 million on imaging services, the Business Journal wrote, which translates to $892 per beneficiary. The dollars and cents have added up to rank Massachusetts as the fourth-highest spending state in the U.S. for Medicare-related costs.
According to the report, the higher spending is most likely due to higher imaging costs in Massachusetts, which can skyrocket above the country’s average. While the mean price of a heart ultrasound in the state was $459 in 2015, the same procedure was nearly $100 less in neighboring states.
Massachusetts patients do use imaging services more than the average state—it’s ranked 12th in the U.S., likely due to its unusual 1,229-electrocardiograms-per-1,000-patients statistic—but there are things the state can do to cut its costs, the Business Journal wrote. Even opting for doctors’ offices in favor of outpatient hospital services could slash the budget by millions.
Read the full report from the Boston Business Journal here:
After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.