Couple of points: The 21st Century Cures Act has recently expanded rules for information portability, which will make it much easier to get access to your data in the future. The challenge here has nothing to do with radiologists hoarding your data. The lack of interoperability typically stems from limitations of electronic health information systems. Most radiologists would love to be able to look at your scans from multiple previous hospitals where you were imaged previously, but technical barriers currently make that difficult.
I don't blame the practicing radiologist, but I also don't buy this is purely a technical issue. The hospital is quite literally incentivized to have you repeat tests. I highly doubt they care to make data accessibility/portability a priority. Hopefully these new rules will force their hand.
You are right, to an extent. Health systems and EHR vendors both have historically had an economic disincentive to share data. Think “ecosystem lock-in”. My impression is that things are gradually changing for the better.
