El Yaman Ahmad, Sayed Ahmed, Alwan Maria, Shaikh Asim, Al Rifai Mahmoud, Malahfji Maan, Shah Dipan J, Saeed Ibrahim M, Bucciarelli-Ducci Chiara, Al-Mallah Mouaz H
Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center, Houston, Texas, USA.
Virginia Heart, Falls Church, Virginia, USA; Inova Schar Heart and Vascular, Fairfax, Virginia, USA.
J Cardiovasc Magn Reson. 2025 Jun 6;27(2):101921. doi: 10.1016/j.jocmr.2025.101921.
Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has a growing role in the diagnosis and management of cardiac disease. However, there is little recent data on the availability of CMR physicians (readers) in the United States (US).
To demonstrate the geographic proximity and accessibility of patients to CMR services and CMR physicians across the US.
Using Medicare Part B data in 2022, we analyzed the number and characteristics of CMR readers, their geographical location, and the volume of CMR scans between 2013 and 2022. CMR procedure types were identified using healthcare common procedure coding system (HCPCS) codes 75557, 75559, 75561, and 75563.
Among Medicare beneficiaries in 2022, there were 48,622 CMR scans, up from 17,944 in 2013 (170.9% increase). The lowest scans and reader density were in West Virginia (125.8 procedures and 2.2 readers per million beneficiaries, respectively) and the highest in the District of Columbia (4566.5 procedures and 52.9 readers per million beneficiaries, respectively). No CMR scans were billed in Puerto Rico. Among states and territories that billed for CMR, 50.8 million U.S. citizens were located more than 50 miles from CMR readers and 18.1 million were located more than 100 miles away. Out of 991 readers, 51.9% were radiologists and 48.1% were cardiologists. The median number of scans interpreted by cardiologists was higher than radiologists across all graduation year intervals, and male and female readers interpreted a similar median number of scans. The relative proportion of female readers increased markedly when assessing physicians who graduated after 2010.
This study highlights significant geographic disparities and barriers to accessing CMR in the US.
心血管磁共振成像（CMR）在心脏病的诊断和管理中发挥着越来越重要的作用。然而，美国近期关于CMR医生（阅片者）可及性的数据很少。
展示美国各地患者与CMR服务及CMR医生的地理接近程度和可及性。
利用2022年医疗保险B部分的数据，我们分析了CMR阅片者的数量和特征、他们的地理位置以及2013年至2022年期间CMR扫描的数量。CMR程序类型使用医疗保健通用程序编码系统（HCPCS）代码75557、75559、75561和75563进行识别。
2022年医疗保险受益人中，有48,622次CMR扫描，高于2013年的17,944次（增长170.9%）。扫描次数和阅片者密度最低的是西弗吉尼亚州（分别为每百万受益人125.8次检查和2.2名阅片者），最高的是哥伦比亚特区（分别为每百万受益人4566.5次检查和52.9名阅片者）。波多黎各没有CMR扫描计费。在进行CMR计费的州和领地中，5080万美国公民距离CMR阅片者超过50英里，1810万距离超过100英里。在991名阅片者中，51.9%是放射科医生，48.1%是心脏病专家。在所有毕业年份区间，心脏病专家解读的扫描次数中位数高于放射科医生，男性和女性阅片者解读的扫描次数中位数相似。在评估2010年后毕业的医生时，女性阅片者的相对比例显著增加。
本研究突出了美国在CMR可及性方面存在的显著地理差异和障碍。
