Busting the Myth About Money Behind Lab Tests

Doctors who have no financial incentive to order laboratory tests will send their patients to the lab as often as those who do, a new study has found.

Researchers at the Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Gainesville, Fla.,  looked at doctors who had no financial connection to a laboratory. These same doctors had rarely, if ever been sued for malpractice. Financial incentives and fear of lawsuits are the two major reasons frequently cited for doctors ordering excessive laboratory tests.

The study found these physicians ordered tests as frequently as their counterparts. “At least looking at it from our facility, the rate or practice of overuse is not different that what’s been previously described,” the study’s lead author, David Winchester, told Reuters.

The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, focused only on nuclear stress tests.

The researchers had expected to find the number of tests ordered to be lower than average “because VA doctors aren’t usually influenced by financial gain or fear of being sued,” according to the Reuters article. Instead the study found no statistical difference.