Adams, Mark -- New York

Furthermore, in many medium to large practices and at most academic centers the exams performed on the same day, even at the same time, are not interpreted by the same individual. For example, for a trauma patient where there is a CT scan of the head, neck, chest, abdomen, pelvis and spine, each of these exams may be interpreted by a different individual. At the University of Rochester the head is interpreted by the neuroradiologist, the chest CT by the thoracic radiologist, the abdominal CT by the body imager, and the spine and pelvis bones by the musculoskeletal radiologist. There are certainly no savings in terms of time or effort in subspecialty interpretations, but this is something we believe adds great value to patient care. There is no justification in the MPPR on the professional component.