pjwMD

One voice does not equal the system, but in any the push by some to bill for clinician performed US is largely driven by a need to generate funds to justify to administrators the purchase of a $70k device.

In the outpatient setting it might take days or a week or more to get an appointment for a formal US, then more time for the radiologist to read it, then more time for the GP to get the results and consider treatment changes then more time to get in touch With the patient. But if I as a physician perform and interpret the ultrasound in real time I can immediately begin appropriate therapy. This is the major benefit of point-of-care US as opposed to conventional US.

As an internal medicine phsysician who has been using a handheld daily for the past few years I would only add that high image quality is not always needed for many of our most important applications: Lung, IVC, bladder, DVT, abscess. US is dramatically more accurate than physical exam and stethoscope In these cases.

It changed this week, this is the first commercially available device that uses silicon chip rather than piezoelectric crystals, thus the buzz.