After a 90-day comment period elapsed, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced in late September that it will begin reimbursing PET scans for some patients with suspected Alzheimer's disease.
Coverage is limited to patients who have atypical symptoms that cannot be clinically distinguished as Alzheimer's or a frontotemporal dementia such as Pick's disease. CMS determined that PET scans would be useful in distinguishing between Alzheimer's and the other conditions in terms of patterns of degeneration, but it stopped short of concluding that such scans could conclusively identify Alzheimer's on their own.
To qualify, patients must have demonstrated cognitive decline for at least six months and show symptoms of both conditions with no clinically clear cause.
Current Perspectives on Radiology Workforce Issues and Potential Solutions
March 14th 2024Emphasizing the gravity of the ongoing workforce shortage in radiology, these authors recommend a change agenda focusing on expanded numbers of residency positions, reassessment of educational pathways, maintaining a strong presence in hospital settings and practice level initiatives to reduce administrative burden and achieve appropriate reimbursement beyond RVU measurements.
The Reading Room: Artificial Intelligence: What RSNA 2020 Offered, and What 2021 Could Bring
December 5th 2020Nina Kottler, M.D., chief medical officer of AI at Radiology Partners, discusses, during RSNA 2020, what new developments the annual meeting provided about these technologies, sessions to access, and what to expect in the coming year.
Viral Radiology: Knowing When to Say When with the Stigma of Calling Out Sick
February 19th 2024Given a certain perception that calling out sick is frowned upon in health care, radiologists and other health care workers may feel conflicted about being absent even if an illness has reduced their capacity for getting work done on a given day.