Facility Management

Lower reimbursement portends little effectAs the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) takes a second look at its proposed reduction in Medicare reimbursement for outpatient PET exams, manufacturers are weighing in on

The field is beginning to clear for computer-assisted detection (CAD). Last year, only R2 Technology was certified to market the technology in the U.S. This year, Deus Technologies¹

Proposed pay cuts for PET could make providers more efficientMedical imaging services’ business continues to grow at a robust rate, despite a deepening recession and temporary dislocations caused by the Sept. 11 terrorist

Developer plans commercial launch at RSNA showAfter five years of research and development, Advanced Diagnostics is poised to begin delivering its first commercial product, the Avera Diffractive Energy Imaging (DEI) system. This

Siemens Medical has introduced Soarian, a Web-enabled software-based product that connects discrete databases, including medical images, patient records, and billing, to the daily processes of caring for patients. This all-in-one product, which debuted

A new wholly owned subsidiary of Mobile PET Systems, Molecular Imaging Corp., has been formed. The new company will develop stationary PET centers through partnership agreements with healthcare entities. Molecular Imaging was created to take advantage of

The MR and CT industries may be only months away from achieving record sales performances in the U.S. Second-quarter revenue and third-quarter trend analyses indicate that the sales of high-performance equipment, buoyed by rising open sales, may have

The development of new crystal technology is crucial to the advancement of PET imaging. Executives at ADAC Laboratories are betting on GSO (gadolinium oxyorthosilicate) for their flagship PET system, Allegro.Crystals convert high-energy photons into

For years, proponents of digital mammography have focused on the inherent cost-effectiveness of digital mammography. But that may not be its best selling point. Increased efficiency and its effect on patient throughput could be the keys that open the

GE’s Signa Ovation MR scanner is up and running at the Grossman Imaging Center in Oxnard, CA. The 0.35-tesla system was unveiled at the 2000 annual meeting of the RSNA. Ovation is designed to accommodate claustrophobic or larger patients. It

The worst fears of owners and vendors of coincidence cameras were confirmed on June 29, when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) formally restricted reimbursement to selected types of nuclear medicine devices.Expanded PET applications

Interactive computer-based teaching programs can provide an effective way of training radiologists at their desks, according to experts in medical informatics. While medical education is often characterized by hours spent in lecture halls and costly

Propelled by a favorable reimbursement climate, the telemedicine market is on the move, attracting new vendors and users. Many newcomers represent teleradiology and PACS companies with Web-based products for image transmission and archiving.“The

US Oncology has boosted its number of PET facilities to seven with the opening of two new centers in Indianapolis and Austin. The Indianapolis facility will be US Oncology’s first mobile unit. The PET Imaging Center of Central Texas has opened at

In the most visible sign that big government is seeking a simpler (if not kinder) approach to reimbursement, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson has come up with a new name for the Health Care Financing Administration. Out with the HCFA

Altaire has found a home. Hitachi Medical Systems has installed the first of its higher-field open Altaire scanners at Mission Regional Imaging Center in Mission Viejo, CA. Altaire, which delivers 22mT/m gradient amplitude and 55T/m/s slew rate, can

Specificity has long been the weak spot of computer-aided detection. Pattern-matching algorithms have traditionally marked everything suspicious, leading radiologists to complain that CAD systems did little more than redirect them to do a second read.CAD

Two House bills that call for an increase in screening mammography payments have picked up support on both sides of the aisle. The two measures, which propose raising the reimbursement rate from the current $69 to $90, are based on Senate bill 548,

The glamour technologies of imaging, MRI and CT, turned in stellar performances in 2000, pushing revenues in each market close to or beyond record levels. MRI sales in the U.S. topped more than a billion dollars for the second year in a row. Driving the

SonoSite unveiled SonoSite Plus and SonoHeart Plus on April 19, amid sobering news of the company’s financial state.The new versions of handheld ultrasound scanner SonoSite 180 and SonoHeart received FDA clearance in February and are expected to

The paths to Medicare reimbursement for dedicated PET and coincidence cameras have diverged and there appears to be no hope of reuniting them.As of July 1, Medicare will reimburse users of dedicated PET scanners for the diagnosis, staging, and restaging

Surgical biopsy rather than needle biopsy is performed more often than it should be. About this I have no doubt. Anecdotal evidence of professional and financial bias in favor of surgery has been supported by surveys demonstrating that up to 80% of women

Job Code: 736Department: RadiologyGrade: 130Title: PACS AdministratorDate: 2001 Scope of Position* Reporting in a line capacity to the senior manager, radiology computing and information sciences, the incumbent is responsible for leading the

Following the commercial release of OptiGo, Agilent is hoping cardiologists can be convinced to use its handheld ultrasound system in place of a stethoscope. Introduced March 19 at the annual American College of Cardiology meeting in Orlando, FL, the

Handheld ultrasound requires a leap of faith as much as it does technology. Intuitively, the idea seems brilliant: Shrink an ultrasound scanner so it can be worn on your belt, strapped to your shoulder, or carried by hand into places where ultrasound