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Biomedical subjects

P M Conoley

Publications and source records attributed to P M Conoley.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Productivity of radiologists in 1997: estimates based on analysis of resource-based relative value units.

OBJECTIVE: Productivity of radiologists was quantified using the resource-based relative value scale for examining trends in workload. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Staffing and workload data for 1997 were collected in a survey of radiology departments in multispecialty clinics. Workload ratios were calculated and were compared with prior surveys of the same clinics and with published data. RESULTS: Fifteen clinics reported 3,234,730 examinations and 1,860,729 resource-based relative value units (RBRVUs) performed by 284 radiologists and 28 fellows serving 6305 providers. Productivity ratios were as follows: physician index, 19 physicians per radiologist; provider index, 23 providers per radiologist; availability index, 0.78; difficulty index, 0.54 RBRVUs per examination; examination index, 11,559 examinations per year per radiologist; RBRVU index, 6090 RBRVUs per year per radiologist. Each index had roughly a twofold range of variation from lowest to highest ratio observed. Among diagnostic and interventional procedures, 37% of the supervision and interpretation RBRVUs were in general radiography, 41% in sectional imaging, and 22% in special procedures. Since 1973, the percentages of sectional imaging and special procedure examinations and RBRVUs have increased, and the difficulty index has increased. The physician index has been relatively stable. Non-supervision and interpretation codes constitute approximately 18% of the reported RBRVUs. RBRVU valuation of total radiology services has held steady or slightly increased between 1993 and 1997. CONCLUSION: RBRVU workload of radiologists in the clinics appears to be increasing primarily because of an increase in the percentages of highly valued sectional imaging and interventional and angiographic studies, which constituted 63% of the diagnostic imaging RBRVU workload. The ranges of the indexes among the clinics varies greatly.

Efficiency↗
PubMed1992

Productivity of radiologists in the United States by imaging technique: a 16-year analysis based upon relative value units.

Professional Relative Value Units (RVUs) quantifying productivity of radiologists in the United States were used to study trends from 1973 to 1989 in the distribution of productivity among the various imaging techniques. Data from a 1989 survey were used to estimate the distribution of radiology examinations among techniques for 1989. A difficulty index (RVUs per examination) was calculated for each technique weighted by actual CPT-code occurrences reported in that survey. An RVU workload was estimated for each technique by multiplying the occurrences of the technique by its corresponding difficulty index. This analysis was applied first to the 1989 data, and second, retrospectively, to data from the literature that gave the distribution by technique of estimated national procedures for 1973 and 1980. The number of studies and RVUs in all techniques has increased from 1973 to 1989 with a relatively greater increase in the percentage of mammography and of sectional imaging examinations. Differences in difficulty index between the techniques leverage the changes in occurrence, causing a dramatic increase in the percentage of RVU workload represented by sectional imaging. The percentage of procedures and RVUs represented by vascular/interventional has remained relatively constant. The overall difficulty index has risen by 18% from 1973 to 1989. These trends should influence the allocation of space, equipment, and human resources in radiology department planning and management.

Diagnostic Imaging↗
PubMed1991

Productivity of radiologists: estimates based on analysis of relative value units.

Analysis of relative value units (RVUs) was used to quantify patient-care productivity of radiologists in 19 multispecialty group practices and to determine how productivity is affected by certain characteristics of the practices. The RVUs used in this study are the professional component RVUs developed by the American College of Radiology and the Health Care Financing Administration and published as the Radiology Relative Value Scale. An RVU workload was calculated by multiplying the number of times each procedure was performed by the procedure's corresponding RVU; the sum of these products gave the overall professional RVU workload. Five productivity indexes were calculated. The physician index denotes the ratio of the total number of physicians in the clinics to the total number of radiologists. The availability index denotes the fraction of radiologists who are available to perform clinical work after deductions are made for time away from clinical work. The difficulty index measures, in RVUs per examination, the level of complexity of the overall examination mix. The examination index measures examinations per available radiologist, and the RVU index measures RVUs per available radiologist. Altogether, the 19 clinics reported 3,234,451 examinations performed by 299 radiologists. The computed overall indexes were as follows: physician index = 20 physicians per radiologist; availability index = 0.77; difficulty index = 2.27 RVUs per examination; examination index = 14,098 examinations per year per available radiologist; RVU index = 32,065 RVUs per year per available radiologist. When the clinics were grouped according to characteristics of the practices, the RVU index was higher for single-site practices, high-prepaid practices, outpatient-only practices, and practices without radiology training programs. Fifty-two percent of the RVUs were in general radiology, 37% in sectional imaging, and 10% in special procedures. The concept of RVU workload is timely because it undoubtedly will be used to compare workloads across medical subspecialties, and these workloads are likely to be related by third-party payers to compensation.

Ambulatory Care↗
PubMed1981

Computed tomography of the nonvisualizing gallbladder.

A prospective computed tomography (CT) study of a group of patients suspected of having gallbladder disease was performed. Ten patients were evaluated who had gallbladder nonvisualization on two consecutive oral contrast medium administrations. Evaluation of the gallbladder and common bile duct by CT disclosed specific abnormalities including gallstones, unsuspected common bile duct obstruction, and acute and chronic cholecystitis. Additional information on the physiologic processes involved in gallbladder nonvisualization is offered.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Renal peripelvic extravasation: a complication of arteriography.

Renal peripelvic extravasation is a known complication of intravenous urography in patients with acute ureteral obstruction. A case of bilateral peripelvic extravasation during arteriography is presented. Possible causes for the extravasation are discussed.

Angiography↗