J Health Care Technol. 1985 Spring;1(4):257-78.
Freestanding diagnostic imaging centers represent one of the new types of ambulatory care facilities providing health services today. Like those offering surgical and urgent care to outpatients, centers offering imaging services present an economic challenge to nearby hospitals that now provide outpatient imaging. However, unlike other ambulatory facilities, imaging centers rely precariously upon both expensive, high-technology equipment and other physicians who refer patients. This dependence creates a unique set of relationships among the hospitals, radiologists, referring physicians, and individual consumers in a community, particularly when some of the physicians have financial interests in the success of a freestanding center. This assessment examines many aspects of hospitals' and radiologists' responses to these new, competing imaging centers, and pays particular attention to the legal, ethical, and economic dimensions of several possible alternative strategies.
独立诊断成像中心是当今提供医疗服务的新型门诊护理机构之一。与那些为门诊病人提供手术和紧急护理的机构一样，提供成像服务的中心给附近目前提供门诊成像服务的医院带来了经济挑战。然而，与其他门诊机构不同的是，成像中心危险地依赖于昂贵的高科技设备以及转诊病人的其他医生。这种依赖在社区中的医院、放射科医生、转诊医生和个体消费者之间形成了一组独特的关系，尤其是当一些医生在独立中心的成功中有经济利益时。本评估考察了医院和放射科医生对这些新的、具有竞争力的成像中心的反应的多个方面，并特别关注了几种可能的替代策略的法律、伦理和经济层面。
