Hanging a price tag on radiology tests didn't change doctors' habits

In an effort to research how to cut wasteful healthcare spending, a study at Johns Hopkins Hospital tried to see if doctors would be less likely to cut down on ordering imaging tests such as standard chest X-rays and CT scans of the head if they were shown how much the tests cost beforehand. The study found that there was no difference in the number of tests ordered between doctors who were shown the costs and those who weren’t. But the results are not as clear-cut as they may seem. In the case of CT head scans, for example, there tend to be specific reasons for ordering the tests that made them a needed procedure, cost or no cost.