Facility Management

Cuts built into the 2010 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule will imperil community-based imaging facilities, ultimately restricting availability of advanced imaging techniques to large hospitals, according to American College of Radiology.

With radiologists already working at record productivity levels, there is not much room left to maintain income levels by working harder.

When Regions Hospital got serious about automating its patient record, administrators there decided that PACS would have to be part of it.

These are hard times for magazines, especially ones that devote themselves to medical practice.

The risks for individual imaging services are low, but radiologists should not be surprised by a visit from a representative of Medicare’s inspector general’s office to investigate the medical necessity of emergency room scans or their imaging center billing patterns.

This month Diagnostic Imaging celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Healthcare reform legislation from the House of Representatives, announced Thursday by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is ready to go to members for discussion and a vote. The bill would cut Medicare payment rates for advanced imaging while establishing a 2.5% surcharge on the purchase price of new imaging equipment.

A coalition representing imaging manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and professional societies fears a corporate tax embedded in the Senate healthcare reform bill could stifle product innovation, though the exact financial impact of the proposed surcharge is hard to gauge.

The possibility that radiologists will score a major victory in healthcare reform legislation grew stronger this week with the endorsement of a proposal to link physicians’ pay to the use of appropriateness criteria in the ordering of imaging studies. The last-minute addition to the Senate Finance Committee reform bill was approved by the panel Oct. 13 and will be debated with the rest of the reform bill on the Senate floor, mostly likely next week.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the prestigious Los Angeles healthcare institution known as the hospital to the Hollywood stars, has been jolted by an FDA alert indicating that perfusion CT performed during an 18-month period exposed more than 200 stroke patients to eight times the normal dose of ionizing radiation for the procedures.

Earlier this decade, when NightHawk Radiology Services and Virtual Radiologic became publicly traded corporations, it looked like the die had been cast for the future of radiology. Venture capitalists were prowling the RSNA exhibit floor looking for the next hot teleradiology company to fund and take public. There was widespread talk that the next step would be final day reads rendered from large and remote teleradiology operations.

A proposal that could allow higher payments for physicians who refer patients in accordance with appropriateness criteria has been added to a healthcare reform bill now before the Senate Finance Committee.

Teleradiology's aggressive move into day read business gives hospitaladministrators a 'nuclear option' against defiant hospital-based radiologists

A proposal to increase the assumed equipment utilization rate, combined with other payment reductions, could result in 2010 rate cuts for imaging centers greater than those imposed by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, a new analysis concludes.

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Comprehensive healthcare reform legislation rolled out by the Senate Finance Committee this week moved the debate closer to what radiologists and image service operators would consider a reasonable formula for the regulation of reimbursement and clinical practices.

When economic hard times hit, the instinct of most companies is to take shelter, reduce spending, and wait for good times to return.

The argument that diagnostic technologies make a difference in clinical outcomes is like the one that eyesight is helpful when crossing the street. If you don’t see danger coming, whether it is a disease or car, it’s hard to avoid it. Most in radiology would agree that this certainly makes sense for preventive medicine. Another obvious argument applies to the diagnostic/therapeutic process. How can patients be treated if physicians don’t know what ails them?

Radiologists reacted cautiously to healthcare reforms proposed Wednesday night by President Barak Obama in a speech before Congress. They were heartened by his remarks supporting screening mammography and malpractice reform, but they said the proposal doesn’t change much in terms of lobbying direction or provide all of the details they are waiting for.

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On the eve of a major presidential speech on healthcare reform, medical imaging advocates weighed in with political broadsides urging Congress to set aside legislative proposals they say will harm imaging device sales and clinical practices.

Considering the financial and professional implications of reform, it is not surprising that radiologists and imaging service providers are anxious about where the political discussion will lead.

Radiologists are not the only ones feeling the pinch from Medicare. Their colleagues on the radiation oncology side of the fence stand to lose out as well, if proposed Medicare rules go through – and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) is kicking up some dust about it.

Radiologists have felt the effects of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 far more than nonradiologist imagers, according to a study in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

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Recently the White House announced that the first chunk of money, $1.2 billion in grants, is set to prime the healthcare IT initiative in the U.S. The funds will begin flowing sometime next year. About half will go to establish HIT centers that will help hospitals and docs to build their own electronic medical records (EMRs). The other half will go toward developing a nationwide system of EMRs.

Former FujiFilm Medical exec Clayton T. Larsen will head marketing efforts for the teleradiology firm Franklin & Seidelmann.

Radiologists who believe that Washington insiders have targeted medical imaging for financial cutbacks can find plenty of evidence to raise concerns in a recent report on Medicare costs published by the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee.

Scores of radiologists from private imaging centers in the New York City metro area and thousands of their patients have organized to pressure their representatives in Congress for support in preserving access to imaging services. Their approach targets key players dealing with health care reform.

A type of iterative reconstruction may reduce patient radiation dose from CT scans up to 65%, according to a study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.