Facility Management

Teleradiology's aggressive move into day read business gives hospitaladministrators a 'nuclear option' against defiant hospital-based radiologists

A proposal to increase the assumed equipment utilization rate, combined with other payment reductions, could result in 2010 rate cuts for imaging centers greater than those imposed by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, a new analysis concludes.

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Comprehensive healthcare reform legislation rolled out by the Senate Finance Committee this week moved the debate closer to what radiologists and image service operators would consider a reasonable formula for the regulation of reimbursement and clinical practices.

When economic hard times hit, the instinct of most companies is to take shelter, reduce spending, and wait for good times to return.

The argument that diagnostic technologies make a difference in clinical outcomes is like the one that eyesight is helpful when crossing the street. If you don’t see danger coming, whether it is a disease or car, it’s hard to avoid it. Most in radiology would agree that this certainly makes sense for preventive medicine. Another obvious argument applies to the diagnostic/therapeutic process. How can patients be treated if physicians don’t know what ails them?

Radiologists reacted cautiously to healthcare reforms proposed Wednesday night by President Barak Obama in a speech before Congress. They were heartened by his remarks supporting screening mammography and malpractice reform, but they said the proposal doesn’t change much in terms of lobbying direction or provide all of the details they are waiting for.

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On the eve of a major presidential speech on healthcare reform, medical imaging advocates weighed in with political broadsides urging Congress to set aside legislative proposals they say will harm imaging device sales and clinical practices.

Considering the financial and professional implications of reform, it is not surprising that radiologists and imaging service providers are anxious about where the political discussion will lead.

Radiologists are not the only ones feeling the pinch from Medicare. Their colleagues on the radiation oncology side of the fence stand to lose out as well, if proposed Medicare rules go through – and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is kicking up some dust about it.

Radiologists have felt the effects of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 far more than nonradiologist imagers, according to a study in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

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Recently the White House announced that the first chunk of money, $1.2 billion in grants, is set to prime the healthcare IT initiative in the U.S. The funds will begin flowing sometime next year. About half will go to establish HIT centers that will help hospitals and docs to build their own electronic medical records (EMRs). The other half will go toward developing a nationwide system of EMRs.

Former FujiFilm Medical exec Clayton T. Larsen will head marketing efforts for the teleradiology firm Franklin & Seidelmann.

Radiologists who believe that Washington insiders have targeted medical imaging for financial cutbacks can find plenty of evidence to raise concerns in a recent report on Medicare costs published by the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee.

Scores of radiologists from private imaging centers in the New York City metro area and thousands of their patients have organized to pressure their representatives in Congress for support in preserving access to imaging services. Their approach targets key players dealing with health care reform.

A type of iterative reconstruction may reduce patient radiation dose from CT scans up to 65%, according to a study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Findings from a survey of 100 imaging centers suggest that MRI scanning facilities, particularly those run independently from hospitals, lack basic infection-control procedures. Patients and staff could be at risk of contracting and spreading life-threatening diseases during MRI exams.

Interventional radiologists are coming to grips with the implications of two groundbreaking clinical trials indicating that percutaneous vertebroplasty relieves pain from osteoporotic vertebral fractures no better than a sham version of the procedure.

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Blue Dog Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health were credited Friday with combating liberal proposals arising during protracted deliberations that would have cut physician pay. No action was taken on an amendment that would have banned in-office imaging physician self-referral.

The makers of imaging equipment will soon get a handle on industry-wide performance in the first half of 2009, tallying the units sold and revenue earned. They’ll put their numbers in the context of what they believe their competitors did and come up with a snapshot of where we, the imaging community, have been. I’m betting two bits to a donut it won’t be pretty.

Cancer survivors and others with chronic conditions, backed by patient advocacy groups, gathered on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Wednesday to protest proposed imaging services reimbursement cuts they fear will reduce access to essential diagnostic imaging services, particularly in rural communities.

A study combining the work of two commercial health insurance plans and a Medicare Advantage managed care program indicates that imaging prior authorization dramatically slows the use of high-tech imaging in the short run, but its impact decreases over time.