Facility Management

Imaging center installs dual-source CTFDA clears next-generation radiotherapyDeJarnette prepares data sharing key for HIMSSInSite One shuffles sales leadership

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is weighing comments from the medical community regarding a plan, announced last month, to overturn local Medicare coverage of cardiac CT angiography for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. The only exception would be for patients enrolled in research trials preapproved by Medicare.

Partnership of public and private sectors and academia, resembling coalition built around breast imaging, may bring about 'manogram'

Basic guidelines and formulas can help both parties estimate worth of imaging center and avoid unprofitable guesswork

An intersocietal task force representing radiologists and cardiologists has asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to withdraw its controversial national coverage determination for cardiac CT because of omissions in the scientific inquiry that guided development of the reimbursement rules.

Radiology is at a crossroads, according to three prominent radiologists who have followed the specialty's digital revolution and evolution of practice. Their message was characterized by the RSNA as "a warning and a challenge."

This year for the first time the RSNA meeting offered a scientific abstract session dedicated exclusively to pediatric CT and dose. Papers from Asia, Europe, and the U.S. reflect that the growing concern over radiation exposure from medical imaging, particularly in young patients, has reached almost every corner of the world.

Prostate cancer imaging experts sent out a clear message in 2007: Prostate cancer in the U.S. has become an unrecognized patient care crisis that needs tackling. The good news is these experts agree that advanced imaging technologies could help in early detection and minimally invasive treatment. The lack of a cohesive national strategy is worrisome, however, and they want to see the adoption of a broad initiative for diagnosing and treating prostate cancer similar to that for breast cancer.

Diagnostic imaging centers have experienced significant ownership changes over the last few years. Radiologist affiliation arrangements, hospital joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, as well as other creative equity sharing activities, have come to be viewed as key to capital formation strategies necessary for succeeding in the highly competitive diagnostic imaging center industry. At the core of each of these transactional activities is financial valuation.

Emory University trial results showed that a new technique called stereoscopic digital mammography reduces false positives by 49% and false negatives by 40% in women with an elevated risk of breast cancer. But the technique may have difficulty catching on, as it requires double the images and double the radiation dose compared with conventional digital mammography.

Medicare has proposed a national coverage policy for cardiac CT that would slam the door on outpatient payment for the most popular applications of cardiac CT.

An hour after the RSNA show floor opened, employees of Philips Medical Systems lifted the earth-toned drape that obscured the company’s answer to Toshiba’s flat-panel CT. The 256-slice system was as much a surprise as Toshiba’s 320-element system, as each company exceeded expectations in an industry marked this year by superlatives.

Hitachi Medical Systems America created the market for open MR almost single-handedly in the mid-1990s. This market segment, which in its heyday accounted for about 40% of new MR sales in the U.S., has all but vanished, leaving a trickle of demand.

If we were to believe vendors, radiology would be awash in breakthroughs. But, in reality, industry advances are rare, which is all the more reason to celebrate the events of RSNA 2007.

Among its final acts of 2007, Congress approved a moratorium delaying a scheduled 10.1% cut in Medicare physician reimbursement called for by the Sustainable Growth Rate formula. The cuts would have been implemented Jan. 1, 2008.

Immune to the effects of the Deficit Reduction Act and impervious to concerns of obsolescence, digital mammography this year will achieve nearly triple-digit growth in the U.S. In the first half of 2007, demand for digital mammography almost doubled with about 770 units sold to U.S. customers compared with 400 in the first half of 2006.

If we were to believe vendors, radiology would be awash in breakthroughs. But, in reality, industry advances are rare, which is all the more reason to celebrate the events of RSNA 2007.

An overwhelming majority of the audience at an RSNA special focus session voted in favor of keeping up the efforts to get FDA approval for the use of contrast ultrasound for general radiology applications.

To the medical community, teleradiology means extending high-quality medical service into underserved areas and expanding medical practice into the 21st century. To the legal community, however, teleradiology brings to the fore issues that have bedeviled healthcare lawyers for years: licensure, jurisdiction, and liability.

A 1996 National Aeronautics and Space Administration report speculated that telemammography could be used to connect neglected rural patients with timely, critical medical expertise-if only an adequate communications infrastructure in these areas could support such an undertaking. NASA went on to predict that global satellite networks then evolving could bring low-cost telecommunications infrastructure connectivity to virtually any location.

Slightly over a year and a half since the opening of the National Oncologic PET Registry, the conclusion has become clear to participants and program managers: Coping with the paperwork involved is not always easy, but it is worthwhile.

One mild day in San Francisco in late September, a few dozen people from all over the globe passed around sample rectal tubes, boxes of various bowel preparations, and other clinical paraphernalia. The props were part of a hands-on virtual colonoscopy workshop with instructor Dr. Judy Yee, an expert in the blossoming technique.

The growing cost of funding healthcare means that budgets must be managed carefully. Clinicians and radiologists are under increasing pressure from payers to economize. At the same time, many specialties face a shortage of trained healthcare professionals. This is creating room for others to step in and manage what was traditionally regarded as another professional's turf.

An overwhelming majority of the audience at an RSNA special focus session Thursday voted in favor of keeping up the efforts to get FDA approval for the use of contrast ultrasound for general radiology applications.