This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Paul Ross, MD
Medical University of South Carolina Charleston

JAMA. 1986;255(10):1287.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.—

Dr Angell¹ provides thought-provoking, practical analysis and advice in her article, "Cost Containment and the Physician." She suggests that the profession support the revision of fee schedules so that they no longer reward the use of tests and procedures as the single most important reform to be made in the present system. This general statement could have been strengthened by examples, and I offer an important one.

Perhaps half of all radiological examinations in the United States are performed in the primary physician's office. In this self-referral situation it is clearly impossible for the physician to be unbiased in deciding what needs to be done for the patient. A substantial reduction in the fee schedule for examinations performed in this setting would undoubtedly help to resolve this problem. . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Footnotes
Edited by Drummond Rennie, MD, Senior Contributing Editor; Sharon Iverson, Assistant Editor.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?