Nuclear cardiology in a managed care environment.

Health maintenance organizations (HMO) and nuclear cardiology represent mutual threats and mutual opportunities for each other. On the one hand, nuclear cardiology represents a cost center with HMOs exerting tremendous financial pressure on nuclear cardiology programs. On the other hand, nuclear cardiology can act as a sage gatekeeper to the cardiac catheterization laboratory and help HMOs effectively control the health care of an increasing percentage of the population. Through the process of negotiation, of determining each other's needs, an accommodation can take place between the two. The ability to correlate scan results with coronary angiography provides individual nuclear cardiology programs with the opportunity to demonstrate their accuracy. A Nuclear Cardiology Report Card based on these data can be developed for use, with HMOs creating the opportunity to compete not only on price but also on value. Carved out capitation rates for nuclear cardiology can be estimated on the basis of actual experience with an HMO population and by extrapolation from test frequency of the U.S. population. The financial disincentives of capitation and of managed care challenge the physician-patient relationship. Advocacy of the role of nuclear cardiology and an understanding of negotiation strategies can aid nuclear cardiologists in their attempts to provide quality care with commensurate compensation.