Heart scans aims to save lives but actually fattens hospital bills

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Some doctors, hospitals and medical groups are marketing heart scans to us over 60 folks with the claim that they could save our lives. However, Consumer Reports and many medical experts tell us that exactly the opposite happens as these tests frequently result in unnecessary and invasive procedures that are aimed at fattening the billfolds of cardiologists and hospitals.

“It’s a big problem,” Kimberly Lovett, M.D., a physician at Kaiser Permanente and a member of the San Diego Center for Patient Safety at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine told Consumer Reports. “These marketing strategies exploit patient fears and promote tests that aren’t necessary for most people.”

“In a June 2011 editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Lovett suggests that inappropriate testing can lead to inappropriate treatment. “Direct-to-consumer cardiac testing may pose more harm than benefit,” she writes.

Ref and read more: https://ctwatchdog.com/2011/09/19/heart-scans-can-result-in-unnecessary-and-invasive-procedures

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