[2cool4U]

Jack,

There is value to both approaches. Sometimes a blinded second read is good, b/c there's no bias towards looking at a specific problem while ignoring something else that may be significant. On the other hand, letting the reviewing Radiologist know the specific prior results is helpful if they are willing to go on record as agreeing or disagreeing. Most of the time we in my practice are aware of the other report. We are a large referral hospital and get many films from surrounding hospitals. We are often asked to review the images. We are willing to agree/disagree.

Something to keep in mind is that almost no one gets paid for a second review. They take longer to do b/c we are asked to make sure everything was done correctly and we usually have a lot more patient info at the time of the second read. We are then asked to provide a record or documentation of our findings and therefore accept some responsibility for that patient's care, but virtually no insurance company or Medicare pays for the review. This is something that other docs and patients don't seem to be aware of or even really care about. It's unfortunate, b/c you certainly wouldn't get your car fixed at your GM dealer and then take it down the road to an independent shop and expect to have them double-check everything and correct any mistakes for free, but by golly we expect the Radiologists to do so.

Sorry, devolved into another rant. Hope the first paragraph helped.

Tim