Researchers analyzed the inappropriate MRI ordering for veterans with low back pain, according to AJMC.com. The researchers looked at data from the Veterans Health Administration for veterans who received lumbar spine MRIs in the outpatient setting in 2012.
American Journal of Managed Care published the findings.
Here are five observations:
1. Researchers labeled 31 percent of 110,661 LS MRIs as inappropriate.
2. The MRIs classified as appropriate were often ordered after the patients received conservative therapy.
3. Researchers deemed MRIs ordered in the emergency room, urgent care, primary care or internal medicine clinics as inappropriate.
4. Of all physicians, resident physicians were least likely to order LS inappropriate MRIs.
5. The researchers concluded inappropriate LS MRI ordering occurred among a concentrated number of providers. About 24 percent of medical providers ordered 74 percent of the LS MRIs deemed inappropriate.