Growth and geographical variation in the use of cardiac imaging in Australia

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Growth rates and regional differences in the use of cardiac imaging are potential metrics of quality of care. This study sought to define growth and regional variation in outpatient cardiac imaging in Australia. METHODS: Analyses are based on the rate of outpatient transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), transoesophageal echocardiography (TOE) and stress echocardiography (SE) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) per 100 000 people in each geographic insurance region in Australia (Medicare local, ML). Numbers of tests from 2002 to 2013 were obtained from Medicare Australia Statistics, and the number of doctors was obtained from the Health Workforce data. De..