Technology is definitely a cool thing these days. Just watch the commercials on television and you'll understand how abundant and incredibly viable and accesibly to the masses technology is: We can get the internet from our cell phones, take video with our digital cameras and look at photographs posted 10 minutes ago to check road conditions over the internet. Technology is amazing and it's just getting better.

But what happens when technology doesn't work properly? A recent New York Times article surveyed the issue of less-than-stellar technology in the medical world: "Scans--more sensitive and easily available than ever--are increasingly finding abnormalities that may not be the cause of the problem for which they are blamed. It's an issue particularly for the millions of people who go to the doctors' offices in pain." Why is it an issue? Because, scans are expensive, time consuming and often uncomfortable and mentally-taxing on patients...and unnecessary procedures lead to unnecessary costs for everyone.

Instead of relying on scanners (and their confusing results), doctors should set up rules of best practices to rely on in order to give patients a routine diagnostic procedure as well as to expunge any unnecessary costs. Using an independent review organization such as AllMed can help hospitals determine best practices, such as when to use a scan or when to try a different diagnostic approach, when working with patients.

To read the full article, click here.