Background: By law, Norwegian physicians are required to evaluate costs and benefits of various medical interventions before patients are subjected to them. A prerequisite for filling this "gate-keeping" role adequately is to be informed about medical benefits and costs. This article examines physicians' knowledge of costs related to an MR (magnetic resonance) examination of a knee.
Material and methods: In 2006, the Research Institute of the Norwegian Medical Association sent a questionnaire to a representative sample of 1 400 Norwegian physicians. The following question was included: "What do you think is the total cost for a standard MR-examination of a knee (the sum of that paid by patients and the standard reclaimable fee [from health authorities] for this type of examination)". An unpaired t-test was used to compare answers from subgroups of doctors, and Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to establish relationships between cost estimates and other variables.
Results: Physicians' estimates for the costs of an MR examination showed great variation. 57 % of respondents over or underestimated the costs by 50 % or more than the actual price of 1250 NOK. The most common mistake was overestimation; 47 % estimated the cost to be above NOK 1875, while 10 % thought it was below NOK 625.
Interpretation: The results indicate that doctors should know more about costs, they cannot fulfil their role as gate-keepers without such knowledge.