The Value of Radiology, Part II

News

The Report – June 2019

This is the second report released by The Conference Board of Canada on the value of radiology in Canada. The previous report looked at key aspects and services provided by the Canadian radiology sector, demonstrating the importance of radiology to Canadian health care and regional economies. This report evaluates current wait times for radiological procedures and the future demand and supply of medical imaging equipment.

Highlights from the Report

  • Excessive wait times for CT and MRI diagnostics cost the economy $3.54 billion in 2017.
  • Approximately 5 per cent of patients, or 380,000 people a year (1 in 20), are forced to exit the workforce temporarily while they wait longer than the recommended maximum wait time.
  • Having workers off the job while waiting for diagnostics hurts the ability of firms to produce goods and services. This, in turn, hurts GDP, reducing government revenues by $430 million a year.
  • The cost of excessive wait times will likely increase. Growth in demand for CT and MRI services is expected to outpace the growth in supply over the long term.
  • Currently, 151 new CT machines and 91 new MRI machines are required to modernize Canada’s stock of medical imaging equipment, at a cost of $469 million.
  • Total investment in acquiring imaging machinery needed to meet demand and in keeping the machines up to date with the latest technology amounts to $4.4 billion over the next two decades. This can translate into a saving of $3.5 billion per year.

Advocacy Toolkit

Background – The Value of Radiology in Canada report, Part I

This infographic poster is a simplified and distilled version of a report released in January 2017 by the Conference Board of Canada entitled Value of Radiology in Canada. This report documents pressures on the health system and how radiology can help find solutions. Case study examples based on breast cancer screening, teleradiology, and interventional radiology were used to begin to quantify the value of radiology and to show cost-shifting.Value of Radiology Report

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