Other headlinesPoint-of-care Zonare ultrasound enters service
Imaging lobbyists converge on Capitol Hill
Patients and their advocates, led by the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance, gathered yesterday at the U.S. Capitol to ask Congress to reject proposals by the Obama administration and U.S. House of Representatives to change the “utilization assumption” from the current 50% to 75% or 95%, respectively. They argued that changing the current Medicare formula would amount to deep and arbitrary cuts for diagnostic imaging services with devastating consequences for patient access to life-saving diagnostics, particularly in rural communities. Thirteen leading patient advocacy groups officially submitted a letter to the Senate Finance and House Tri-Committees urging members to adopt legislation that preserves access to diagnostic imaging. The letter stated that any “proposal to increase the utilization assumption for certain imaging equipment including CTs and MRIs will result in additional draconian cuts for imaging services.”
Point-of-care Zonare ultrasound enters service
Zonare Medical Systems has begun shipping its new z.one ultra sp ultrasound system designed for point-of-care use, such as emergency medicine, interventional radiology, venous ablation, anesthesiology and ob/gyn imaging. The software-based architecture of the z.one ultra sp allows the system to convert easily from a full-featured, cart-based system into a premium compact system with no sacrifice in image quality or performance, according to the company. Among the first recipients are Barnes Jewish Hospital at Washington University Medical Center in St. Louis and Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, CA.
The Reading Room: Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Cancer Screenings, and COVID-19
November 3rd 2020In this podcast episode, Dr. Shalom Kalnicki, from Montefiore and Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses the disparities minority patients face with cancer screenings and what can be done to increase access during the pandemic.
Study Finds Transvaginal Ultrasound Unreliable for Detecting Endometrial Cancer in Black Patients
July 3rd 2024Utilizing a threshold of less than 5 mm of ultrasound-measured endometrial thickness, the authors of a new study noted an 11.4 percent false-negative probability for endometrial cancer in Black patients.
New Study Shows Non-Radiologists Interpreting 28 Percent of Imaging for Medicare Patients
June 28th 2024While radiologists interpreted approximately 99 percent of all non-cardiac CT, MRI and nuclear medicine studies in hospital and emergency department settings for Medicare beneficiaries, new research shows significantly less radiologist review of cardiac imaging and office-based imaging.
FDA Clears Pocket-Sized ECG System and AI Technology for Detection of Cardiac Conditions
June 27th 2024Using a reduced leadset and deep neural network algorithms trained on more than 175 million electrocardiograms, the KAI 12L technology reportedly detects up to 35 cardiac determinations, including acute myocardial infarction.