Siemens shuffles U.S. execs
The U.S. operations of Siemens Healthcare will have a new leader.  Effective July 1, Michael Reitermann will serve as CEO of the U.S. organization, in charge of marketing, sales, and service of medical imaging, therapy and health care information technology. He will be based at U.S. headquarters in Malvern, PA.  Reitermann succeeds Heinrich Kolem, Ph.D.,  who served as CEO since 2006. Kolem will now run global operations for Siemens Healthcare’s angiography, fluoroscopy and X-ray business unit, based in Forchheim, Germany. Reitermann was CEO of Siemens Molecular Imaging Business Unit since July 2002 and president of the former nuclear medicine division. Previously he worked as a senior project manager at Siemens corporate strategies division, as well as a partner in Siemens Management Consulting. He served as vice president for sales, marketing and innovation of the Siemens angiography, fluoroscopy and X-ray business unit.

GE study supports imaging use
A GE Healthcare study documents that medical lowers patient mortality at hospitals, yet has little or no effect on length of stay or cost.  The study, led by David Lee, Ph.D., senior director of GE Health Economics and Outcomes Research, was presented this week at the 2009 Academy Health Annual Research Meeting in Chicago. Based on the experience of more one million patients across more than 100 U.S. hospitals, the study contradicts common assumptions that diagnostic imaging services, including those of CT, MR, ultrasound and x-ray, add to admission-related costs.