Assessment of the appropriateness of requested radiological examinations for outpatients and the potential financial consequences of guideline application.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether requested radiological examinations for referred outpatients are in concordance with the guidelines as proposed by the consilium radiologicum. A second purpose was to evaluate the financial effect of strict guideline application. The radiological requests for 1000 referrals were evaluated by 2 radiologists. A consensus score of 74.4% guideline conformity was reached. A mean save of 9.5 Euro per patient was calculated after strict guideline application. It is concluded that guidelines are a valuable tool for patient management in referring for radiological examinations and have a substantial effect on the available budget. Further improvements and fine-tuning of the guidelines are mandatory to increase their validity.