Kaiser Suggests Doctors Curb Use of Chest Scans

Kaiser Permanente is tentatively recommending that doctors reconsider their use computerized chest tomographies and warn patients who undergo the procedure that nodules in the lungs are often identified in the scan. The recommendation comes after a study conducted by a Kaiser physician and researcher found a correlation between an increase in patients undergoing the test and an increase in identified lung nodules. However, the study found no corresponding increase in the rate of patients being diagnosed with lung cancer.  

• "Kaiser Suggests Dialing Back on Chest Scans" (Shinkman, Payers & Providers, 11/19).