Facility Management

Teleradiology is evolving at different ratesacross Europe.

The ability to self-refer may explain why cardiologists were better able than radiologists to adjust to Medicare rate cuts after the implementation of reimbursement reforms from the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.

Launched in 2008, the imaging center at the Glastonbury outdoor rock event in the U.K. is on the verge of becoming an institution. The center was reopened at the 2009 festival, this time with a portable digital radiography machine. A poster at the RSNA meeting reported good results, along with plans to expand in 2010.

GE Healthcare announced at RSNA 2009 an effort to develop the next generation of software designed to cut patient x-ray dose from CT.

Over the last several months, Philips has been dropping hints that the company would unveil at RSNA 2009 a high-powered technique for cutting CT dose. The company did not disappoint.

There's an alternative to radiology benefit managers that can cut down on labor hours, save money, and ensure patients receive the right imaging test the first time

Experts continue to lambast recent recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force to cut breast cancer screening from annual to biennial exams and to limit the test to women ages 50 to 74. The experts are primarily concerned with the task force’s ability to influence policy, and thus they continue to assert there are no data to support the recommendations.

Some have blamed in-office self-referral for imaging’s fall from grace, alleging that overprescription of imaging exams for personal gain and the low-quality images that often result have tarnished the specialty’s reputation. Now relief may come from an unlikely quarter: healthcare reform.

Bracco Diagnostics sees opportunity in the latest decision by the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services to reimburse more for PET procedures in 2010.

Rather than retreating after the hard blow handed them by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which refused to grant reimbursement for the application in May, CT colonography researchers will arrive at the 2009 RSNA meeting with more of what CMS wants: hard data.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has issued a recommendation against routine breast cancer screening for women ages 40 to 49 and suggests the screening interval should be changed from every year to every two years beginning at age 50. The new recommendations will result in “many needless deaths,” said a joint statement from the American College of Radiology and the Society of Breast Imaging

Medical imagers can now expect Medicare to routinely cover FDG-PET for initial staging of cervical cancer, thanks to a national coverage ruling announced Nov. 10.

In 1999, when the National Academy of Engineering asked professional engineering societies to rank the top achievements of the 20th century, they ranked medical imaging techniques at number 14, one rung below the Internet and one above household appliances. A decade later the providers of imaging services and the companies that sell this equipment are scapegoats targeted for rate cutting and taxation. What happened?

A radiologist, well known for research on diagnostic imaging utilization trends, has pointed to the growing prominence of radiology benefit management companies for slamming the brakes on rapidly growing high-tech imaging utilization.

With years of slice wars behind them, vendors will argue that image quality and dose reduction are this year’s dominant issues in CT. Most of their arguments will be rooted in past developments.

Passing of the Affordable Health Care for America Act in the House of Representatives confirmed imaging proponents’ fears that the bill would impose steep cuts to Medicare reimbursement rates and new sale taxes on imaging equipment. But they were pleased to discover that, for the first time, the House has turned its gaze on physician self-referral.

Electrocardiogram-gated tube modulation is essential to lower radiation dose in fusion imaging.

The American College of Radiology is predicting that imaging access will plunge and patient waiting times will soar from new Medicare Physician Fee Schedule rules that will cut Medicare payments for outpatient imaging by an estimated 16% next year.

Cuts built into the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule will imperil community-based imaging facilities, ultimately restricting availability of advanced imaging techniques to large hospitals, according to American College of Radiology.

With radiologists already working at record productivity levels, there is not much room left to maintain income levels by working harder.

When Regions Hospital got serious about automating its patient record, administrators there decided that PACS would have to be part of it.

These are hard times for magazines, especially ones that devote themselves to medical practice.

The risks for individual imaging services are low, but radiologists should not be surprised by a visit from a representative of Medicare’s inspector general’s office to investigate the medical necessity of emergency room scans or their imaging center billing patterns.

This month Diagnostic Imaging celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Healthcare reform legislation from the House of Representatives, announced Thursday by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is ready to go to members for discussion and a vote. The bill would cut Medicare payment rates for advanced imaging while establishing a 2.5% surcharge on the purchase price of new imaging equipment.