Tara Parker-Pope, a health and wellness blogger for the New York Times, recently posted a blog deciphering the results of a recent Oregon Health and Science University study that claims that certain scans for back pain might be inefficient and do more harm than good for the patient.

According to the OHSU study, back pain patients who underwent scans didn’t get better any faster or have less pain, depression or anxiety than patients who weren’t scanned. More importantly, Parker-Pope points out that the OHSU data suggested that patients who get scanned for back pain may end up with more pain that those who are left alone.

Why are these results important to health payers and hospitals? Because: Those same studies suggest that more than half the patients who see a doctor for back pain undergo X-rays or another imaging study as a result. These tests might not be necessary, the studies say. Dr. Roger Chou, associate professor of medicine at Oregon Health and author of the study wrote that “We [doctors] think we’re helping patients by doing a test, but we’re adding cost, exposing people to radiation and people may be getting unnecessary surgery.”

Rather than have patients under the impression they are in worse conditions than they might actually be, doctors need to focus on practicing the best standards-of-care to ensure that patients are receiving the correct medicine they need to keep their body and mind healthy. An independent review organization like AllMed can help you, as doctors and payers, make the right decision to ensure the best standards-of-care for patients.

To read the full article and to link to the study, click here