Investigators at Yale University School of Medicine Report New Data on Managed Care (Gender differences in provider practice characteristics and medicare payment & services among diagnostic radiologists): Managed Care

2026 JUN 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators discuss new findings in Managed Care. According to news reporting originating in New Haven, Connecticut, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “Gender-based differences in representation, practice settings, sub-specialty, billings, and payments among radiologists are poorly understood. To compare representation, scope of practice, productivity, and Medicare payments between female and male diagnostic radiologists.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from the Yale University School of Medicine, “This cross-sectional (2017-2021) retrospective study examined the CMS Medicare Fee-for-Service Provider Utilization and Payment Database for payments to male and female diagnostic radiologists. The study practice setting, volume of services provided, number of unique beneficiaries served and financial data. Descriptive statistics were reported as mean with standard error (SE) for financial variables and median with interquartile range (IQR) for non-financial variables. Between 2017-2021 data, a total of 33,029 diagnostic radiologists provided services to Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, of whom 8,217 (24.9%) were female. Female radiologists were disproportionately in academic versus non-academic radiology (34.2% vs 22.6%); practicing in urban versus rural areas (26.3% vs 17.0%); in larger practices (30.1% in practices with 100 radiologists vs 17.5% in practices with 1-9 radiologists); and in certain subspecialties (breast imaging- 64.9%). On average, female radiologists received 86% of the total Medicare payments received by male radiologists (mean [SE], $301,931 [$1810] vs $352,604 [$1,164]; p< .001). Female radiologists billed fewer median total services (6,660 vs 9,859; p< .001), served fewer beneficiaries (5,441 vs 7,678; p< .001), and billed fewer unique codes (20 vs 39; p< .001). Overall, female radiologists’ average (SE) payment per service was 18% higher than males [$36.26 (0.13) versus $30.71 (0.06), respectively, but were similar within each subspecialty. Female radiologists are disproportionately in academic, urban, and large practices and work as subspecialists.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Further, while total Medicare payments received by females were less than males, average payments per service were higher for females overall, but comparable by sex in the same subspecialty.”

For more information on this research see: Gender differences in provider practice characteristics and medicare payment & services among diagnostic radiologists. PLOS One, 2026;21(6). PLOS One can be contacted at: Public Library Science, 1160 Battery Street, Ste 100, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA. (Public Library of Science - www.plos.org; PLOS One - www.plosone.org)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Chris J. Lee, Dept. of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Additional authors for this research include Ajay Malhotra, Mihir Khunte, Raj Moily, Dheeman Futela, Seyedmehdi Payabvash, David Seidenwurm and Dheeraj Gandhi.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0349413. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher of the journal PLOS One can be contacted at: Public Library Science, 1160 Battery Street, Ste 100, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA.

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)