Affordable Healthcare: How you can make informed decisions about your healthcare costs
By Ho N. Lin, M.D.
Healthcare consumerism is a current hot topic and will continue to shape the future landscape of healthcare. As healthcare costs continue to skyrocket, the patient consumer will be burdened with an increasing share of costs. Patients will also be tasked with making more decisions about aspects of their healthcare—from doctors, pharmacy, and hospitals to medical imaging.
“OPI adheres to the guiding principle of providing high-quality medical imaging at an affordable price.”
Medical imaging accounts for a large proportion of healthcare dollars that are spent, as it is an invaluable diagnostic tool for physicians. Empowering patients to make informed decisions regarding their healthcare requires readily available information relating to costs, quality, and access to care. Outpatient Imaging LLC (OPI) was founded in 2003 on the basis of healthcare consumerism.
Knowledge is Power
There is currently an almost complete lack of transparency in regard to the cost of healthcare and specifically medical imaging. Coverage provided by insurance companies for the same procedures and diagnostic tests can be vastly different. Hospital charges for the same procedure and tests are also widely disparate. It is nearly impossible for the patient consumer to ascertain the actual cost to make a comparison. At OPI, the cost of imaging is published and readily available. Next, quality measures are similarly difficult for the patient consumer to discern. At OPI, all imaging centers are staffed with a board-certified radiologist and American College of Radiology-accredited technologists. Lastly, access to care is equally important in healthcare consumerism. Prolonged wait times for appointments and results are typical of hospital systems. OPI offers convenient evening and weekend hours with rapid turnaround of results and reports.
The OPI Difference
The founding radiologists recognized the evolving dynamics of medical imaging costs, quality, and access. Complete transparency is a tenet of OPI and has proved to be a successful foundation over the past 14 years. OPI is 100% radiology-physician owned and operated without outside influences. Given such, OPI adheres to the guiding principle of providing high-quality medical imaging at an affordable price. OPI costs are generally one quarter of those from a hospital for the same imaging test, which equate to lower co-pays and significant cost savings for patients. OPI provides all radiology imaging needs including X-rays, ultrasound, CT, mammography, fluoroscopy, nuclear medicine, bone density testing, and MRIs. As an empowered consumer in today’s complex and costly healthcare environment, you have a choice in medical imaging. Choose OPI.
Ho N. Lin, M.D. received his medical degree from Medical College of Georgia in 1996, followed by a residency in diagnostic radiology at the Medical College of Georgia, which he completed in 2000. He serves as president of OPI.
OutPatient Imaging • 2284 Peachtree Road N.W., Atlanta, GA 30309 • (404) 225-5674 • OutPatientImaging.net
