The Washington Post recently explored how the growing use of medical imaging services, including CT scans (computed tomography), is exposing millions of patients throughout the country to unnecessary risk.  The number of scans performed has grown from 3 million in 1980 to 67 million in 2006.  David J. Brenner, a professor of radiation oncology at Columbia University, said that  "radiation doses from CT have been pretty clearly demonstrated to increase cancer risk." 

While experts do not want to alarm patients, they are worried about overuse, especially in children since the average CT chest scan, exposes patients to more than 150 times the radiation compared to a typical chest X-ray.  Several researchers including Brenner and Fred A. Mettler Jr., a radiation health expert at the University of New Mexico, have recently co-authored a series of reports warning about the potential risks of CT scans.  Data shows that every 1,000 to 2,000 CT scans may produce one additional fatal cancer that would not have occurred, and rates are much higher for children and young women, sometimes as low one additional cancer for every 143 scans.

Reasons for overuse of CT scans vary but some suspect financial interests in imaging facilities or the role of defensive medicine by doctors (to fend off accusations of withholding necessary care) may be attributed to the unprecedented rise in use of these services.

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According to research conducted by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2002, an estimated 18,000 Americans died in 2000 because they were uninsured.  Recently, the Urban Institute revisited the IOM report and updated the analysis.  Researchers with the Urban Institute estimated that in 2007, 27,000 deaths in the United States resulted from adults not having health insurance.  Lack of health insurance has been linked with a variety of health related concerns including lower quality of life, increased morbidity and mortality, and higher financial burdens.

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Legislation to avert a 10.1 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians was signed by President Bush on December 29th.  The bill provides physicians with a temporary 0.5 percent increase in payments for six months ensuring that Congress will take-up the issue again in 2008.  If Congress does not act on the issue by June, physicians will see the 10.1 percent cut go into effect.  The American Medical Association said they were "disappointed" with the temporary patch and will urge Congress to pursue a long-term solution to the problem when members return from recess.

In addition to the Medicare payment fix, the legislation provides funding for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) until March 2009.  During the last several months of 2007, the House and Senate tried to work with each other and the White House to come to a compromise on the reauthorization of SCHIP and the Medicare package.  An additional $1.6 billion was included in the bill to prevent projected shortfalls that numerous states had anticipated in 2008.