Interventional radiologists' involvement in evaluation and management services and association with practice characteristics.

PURPOSE: To characterize the current state and level of interventional radiology evaluation and management (E&M) services provided to the Medicare population and to investigate the relationship between the level of E&M services provided by an individual provider and volumes, charges, and types of procedures performed.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Based on Medicare claims data, interventional radiology providers were identified and grouped as high or low E&M level providers. Procedure counts, charge values, E&M codes, top diagnoses associated with E&M services, and top procedure codes were tabulated for interventional radiology providers as a whole. Procedure counts, charge values, and top procedure codes were tabulated for each group. Groups were compared with nonparametric statistical tests.

RESULTS: In 2009, 118,040 units of E&M services were performed by interventional radiologists (IRs) for Medicare beneficiaries, resulting in $9.3 million in allowed charges. High E&M level providers had higher total charges for procedural services, performed a higher unit number of procedural services, and obtained a higher charge per unit of procedural work performed (all P < .0001). Although there was significant overlap in highest-volume procedures performed by both groups, high E&M level IRs performed more catheter-based procedures in the arterial system.

CONCLUSIONS: This study found significant differences between practice characteristics of IRs providing high and low levels of E&M services. The results suggest that greater involvement in E&M is associated with higher-reimbursement procedural work.