A long-time colleague recently asked me what effect the new health reform law would have on the use of the famous Star Trek Medical Tricorder.* I told him that provisions of the new health law will try to reduce the number of unnecessary imaging tests, and since the tricorder is a hand-held imaging scanner the new law might reduce its use – if it really existed.
Thinking about it later, I realized that if/when such hand-held scanners are developed they would replace much larger and more expensive devices. The impact of innovations like this on healthcare spending depends upon how health insurance pays for these tests.…