Interventional Radiology's Growing Role in Hepatobiliary Cancer Care Quantified

In Medicare hepatobiliary cancer patients, interventional radiology (IR) treated 51% of patients, provided 2.9% of services but 11.7% of work RVUs, delivered similar wRVUs at lower costs, and saw the highest annual growth (4%) among specialties.

• Retrospective analysis of CMS Medicare Fee-for-Service claims (2016–2021) included 108,317–111,761 patients annually (mean age 75, 53% male) with hepatobiliary cancers.
• IR treated 51% of patients, providing 75,785 therapeutic procedures (59% for hepatocellular carcinoma); while IR services were 2.9% of total physician services, they accounted for 11.7% of work RVUs.
• IR demonstrated a compound annual growth rate of 4%, the highest among analyzed specialties, with pre-pandemic volume increases of 57% driven by liver ablations (+25%) and supportive services (+63%).

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