The Health Care Finance Administration ( Medicare / Medicaid ) sets reimbursements rates, and most private insurance companies follow suit. So, I don't get to charge whatever I want to read an MRI. And, I don't order the studies that I read, other doctors do that.
The only thing I can control is the number of studies I read. If I work harder and read more, I make more. It just so happens that I am very fast, and I have surrounded myself with fast partners. On average we read two or three times what other radiologists read, so we make two or three times more.
As far as disruption is concerned, for now the law is on my side. Of course a doctor working in India could read studies cheaper than I could. Most doctors complain about malpractice, without understanding the benefits. Trial lawyers hold me liable for my reports, and rightly so. If I miss a small treatable cancer, it can turn into a large untreatable cancer. This liability also confers a monopoly. How can a lawyer sue a doctor in India? Consequently, in order to perform a 'final read' on a radiology study in the USA, you must have trained in USA, be credentialed in the USA, and liable in the USA. This makes it very hard to undercut on price.
So, I'm not sure if I deserve what I make. There aren't a lot of people that can do my job, or withstand the training. Anyway, I'm saving everything I earn, because I don't think it will last forever.
I'm not sure if you're being serious or not, but I'll answer.
I happen to think real AI will not happen in my lifetime, if ever. This is not an uninformed opinion, I have MS in Neuroscience, and I'm a programmer. I'm sure others reading HN will disagree.
It will take nothing less than a full artificial intelligence to do what I do.
If you want to read more about early attempts, there is something called "Computer Aided Detection" that is used when reading mammograms. It is awful, and I'll let you in on a secret. Most places that CAD their mammograms do it so they can charge more, not because it helps.
You mentioned in an earlier comment about a CT scan being 6k+ images. I'm assuming these are cross-sectional slices or something similar?
I know a guy who's working for one of the big CT manufacturers (Toshiba, I think) working on 3D image-registration and partial analysis. In essence, lining up the features from different slides and sewing them into a 3D model.
One of the big features being looked at was automatic labelling of certain gross anatomical features - I seem to remember something about cardiac veins needing to be marked as part of a scan report? By mostly automating this, it saves time for the user so they can just check they're correct, maybe move them if not, rather than having to do all the work themselves.
I can see this sort of work being much more useful, and happening in a much shorter term than any sort of AI "You have cancer" system. I wonder how you feel about that sort of thing?
I use this software when we perform a CT scan looking at the coronary arteries. Under perfect conditions it can correctly idenitfy the coronary arteries, and subtract away the rib cage, heart, and lungs.
It sounds like you already understand what it does. It helps me read a study quicker by automatically processing the data, a step I used to do by hand. Many times the processing fails due to an artifact while scanning ( patient moves, ectopic heart beat, poor contrast injection timing, variation in anatomy), and I need to process it manually.
When it works well it is very helpful, but to be clear, it does not interpret the studies. I think many people replying in this thread don't understand the enormous complexity to accurate radiology reporting.
The only thing I can control is the number of studies I read. If I work harder and read more, I make more. It just so happens that I am very fast, and I have surrounded myself with fast partners. On average we read two or three times what other radiologists read, so we make two or three times more.
As far as disruption is concerned, for now the law is on my side. Of course a doctor working in India could read studies cheaper than I could. Most doctors complain about malpractice, without understanding the benefits. Trial lawyers hold me liable for my reports, and rightly so. If I miss a small treatable cancer, it can turn into a large untreatable cancer. This liability also confers a monopoly. How can a lawyer sue a doctor in India? Consequently, in order to perform a 'final read' on a radiology study in the USA, you must have trained in USA, be credentialed in the USA, and liable in the USA. This makes it very hard to undercut on price.
So, I'm not sure if I deserve what I make. There aren't a lot of people that can do my job, or withstand the training. Anyway, I'm saving everything I earn, because I don't think it will last forever.