CMS’s recently proposed regulations on “meaningful use” and electronic health record certification present both opportunities and challenges for the radiology market.
CMS’s recently proposed regulations on “meaningful use” and electronic health record (EHR) certification present both opportunities and challenges for the radiology market.
The good news is that proposed regulations now recognize and support the use of computerized radiology order entry and acknowledge the availability of computerized decision support tools, which will make our industry much more efficient and transparent.
The not-so-good news is that despite the growing importance of medical imaging in diagnosing and treating the nation’s most critical health issues-cancer and heart disease-specialty EHRs, such as those in radiology information systems (RIS), are still not recognized.
Additionally, many of the meaningful use criteria are irrelevant to the practice of radiology. In order to move this issue forward and ensure that medical imaging is included in the national dialogue, we, as an industry, will be challenged to address issues of quality, promote use of tools that provide transparency, and speak up.
The e-Ordering Coalition and its Provider Roundtable are working closely with the ACR and other industry organizations to address these issues. We are preparing a response during the HHS and CMS open comment period. For more information or to get involved, contact Liz Quam (lquam@cdirad.com) or Nancy Koenig (nkoenig@merge.com).
Nancy Koenig is president of Merge Healthcare’s Fusion Division. Liz Quam is the executive director of the Quality Institute at the Center for Diagnostic Imaging in Minneapolis and a founding member of the Imaging e-Ordering Coalition.
A Victory for Radiology: New CMS Proposal Would Provide Coverage of CT Colonography in 2025
July 12th 2024In newly issued proposals addressing changes to coverage for Medicare services in 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced its intent to provide coverage of computed tomography colonography (CTC) for Medicare beneficiaries in 2025.
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.
ACR Collaborative Model Leads to 35 Percent Improvement with Mammography Positioning Criteria
July 1st 2024Noting significant variation with facilities for achieving passing criteria for mammography positioning, researchers found that structured interventions, ranging from weekly auditing of images taken by technologists to mechanisms for feedback from radiologists to technologists, led to significant improvements in a multicenter study.
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.