Today’s Managing Health Care Cost Indicator is $674,000 Last week’s New England Journal of Medicine reported a landmark study showing that screening low-dose CT scans really can save lives in people at high risk for lung cancer. The study is unequivocal – those who got screening CT scans were substantially less likely to die of lung cancer. Further, all-cause mortality was lower – even though a few people with CT scan screening died of exploratory surgery when they were found not to have cancer. This study enrolled only smokers or ex-smokers with at least 30 pack years of smoking history, and excluded those who had signs or symptoms of cancer already, such as weight loss or coughing up blood. It was peformed by the National Cancer Institute, and did not have funding from either companies that manufacture scanners or from tobacco companies. The authors don’t recommend that all smokers and ex-smokers start getting annual CT scans. Even with low dose sca...