Analysis Demonstrates Benefits of Imaging Technologies with Improved Care and Lower Costs

A comprehensive, new look at existing peer-reviewed medical imaging studies has provided critical evidence that medical imaging technology is improving patient care across the health system and provides considerable decreases in healthcare costs.

The Value of Medical Imaging: Improving Outcomes & Reducing Costs, published June 25, 2008, and prepared for the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance (MITA; Rosslyn, VA, USA), summarizes an array of peer-reviewed medical research that shows how medical imaging saves lives, improves treatment options, and provides better care at lower cost.

"This paper is an important reminder of the many ways that medical imaging has become integral to best practices across so many disease states, and proven to play a critical role in providing efficient, high quality patient care,” said Andrew Whitman, vice president, MITA. "We look forward to sharing this resource with policymakers, healthcare payers, and others as important decisions are made about patient's access to these life-saving technologies.”

The report includes medical imaging research across a wide range of diseases--from heart disease and stroke to colorectal cancer and appendicitis. "Every day in the United States over 100 people die needlessly of colorectal cancer, simply because they weren't screened,” said Tim Turnham, CEO of the Colon Cancer Alliance (New York, NY, USA), a U.S. patient advocacy group. "Through peer-reviewed research, including the medical literature cited in this paper, new imaging technologies such as virtual colonography have proven their effectiveness, and as a result, have provided patients with more options for screening. My hope is that more people will get screened--particularly those who currently avoid screening due to the discomfort associated with traditional colonoscopy--and that ultimately more lives will be saved as a result.”

MITA is a division of the U.S. National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).


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Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance