A health plan-owned company says it wants to promote discussion about the risks of radiation exposure from some imaging tests. To that end, it is bringing a cyber woman named Aimee into conversations with patients and physicians. But some aren’t sure Aimee’s intentions are completely motivated by safety and want her to butt out. Aimee is a model patient on a new Web site hosted by American Imaging Management, a subsidiary of WellPoint. Health plans rely on AIM or similar companies to control their imaging costs. AIM says its new site is motivated by recent studies assessing the risks of radiation exposure. The patient chooses a procedure. A part of Aimee’s body lights up, depending on what part is being scanned. Then the site tells the user how much radiation exposure a patient would get from various computed tomography scans, positron emission tomography scans and nuclear medicine tests. It compares the relative radiation exposure to the estimated annual radiation from sunlight and from a chest x-ray and lists alternative diagnostic tests. “We’re here to provide information patients can use in their conversations with their physicians,” said Paul Danao, AIM’s vice president for business development. Some doctors said they suspect AIM could be trying to create doubt in patients’ minds about the safety of tests to save money for its health plan clients, and they aren’t comfortable with what they see as interference with the doctor-patient relationship.
Please click on the link below to read the American Medical News article:
http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/03/24/bil20324.htm
For more information on defending medical malpractice, nursing home and general liability matters in Florida contact Howard Citron at Citron & Associates, P.A. – www.citronlegal.com.
