The economic burden of incidentally detected findings

Practitioners in all medical disciplines recognize the high frequency of incidentally detected findings. Although some findings are discovered on physical examination, an increasing majority are detected at imaging performed for another indication. With increasing federal scrutiny on the net value of imaging services, the costs and benefits of incidental findings need to be more rigorously quantified. In this article, the authors examine current related work on imaging expenditures for incidental findings and provide a framework for future investigations that will efficiently and substantially advance the knowledge in this field.