Facility Management

Findings from a survey of 100 imaging centers suggest that MRI scanning facilities, particularly those run independently from hospitals, lack basic infection-control procedures. Patients and staff could be at risk of contracting and spreading life-threatening diseases during MRI exams.

Interventional radiologists are coming to grips with the implications of two groundbreaking clinical trials indicating that percutaneous vertebroplasty relieves pain from osteoporotic vertebral fractures no better than a sham version of the procedure.

Other headlinesDR growth continuesUltrasound meets gene therapy

Blue Dog Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on health were credited Friday with combating liberal proposals arising during protracted deliberations that would have cut physician pay. No action was taken on an amendment that would have banned in-office imaging physician self-referral.

The makers of imaging equipment will soon get a handle on industry-wide performance in the first half of 2009, tallying the units sold and revenue earned. They’ll put their numbers in the context of what they believe their competitors did and come up with a snapshot of where we, the imaging community, have been. I’m betting two bits to a donut it won’t be pretty.

Cancer survivors and others with chronic conditions, backed by patient advocacy groups, gathered on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Wednesday to protest proposed imaging services reimbursement cuts they fear will reduce access to essential diagnostic imaging services, particularly in rural communities.

A study combining the work of two commercial health insurance plans and a Medicare Advantage managed care program indicates that imaging prior authorization dramatically slows the use of high-tech imaging in the short run, but its impact decreases over time.

Legislation that would eliminate the regulatory exemption that allows physicians to self-refer patients to office-based imaging equipment has gained backers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of three committees debating the House of Representatives’ version of comprehensive healthcare reform.

Mindray marches to marketPACSGEAR moves European office

A major reform of the nation’s healthcare system, the America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, was introduced in the House of Representatives this week. To the delight of many physicians, the bill would eliminate the sustainable growth rate formula. To the chagrin of radiologists, it would also bring further reimbursement cuts for advanced imaging services.

Virtual Radiologic jockeys for rural telerad

Proposed legislation would close a loophole exemption in the federal ban against imaging self-referral that has been implicated in the rapid rise of imaging costs and utilization.

Expectations can be a problem. This is especially so when the government gets involved.

Let’s face it. Our current healthcare system has dealt most of the winning cards to radiologists. Radiologists hold some of the best paying jobs in medicine. The hours are regular. The time off for continuing education and other nonclinical pursuits is generous. And the opportunity to work mainly in an outpatient setting can lower professional anxieties considerably.

Medicare reimbursement for high-tech imaging, including MRI and CT, could be cut by up to 40% if the Obama administration moves ahead with plans covered in proposed changes to the 2010 Physician Fee Schedule to shift funds to primary care physicians.

I couldn't agree more with your editorial on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and CT colonography

Just as diagnostic imaging providers were figuring out strategies to weather the reimbursement cuts mandated by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, the ground shifted once more with a severe economic downturn.

Before she began using coding and billing computer applications developed specifically for radiology, Yvonne Moncovich, director of operations at Straightline Medical in Wilmington, NC, employed more people, struggled with an import/export function, and manually input data. Usually more than once.

Angry backers of CT colonography for colorectal cancer screening are regrouping after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services repulsed their efforts to secure Medicare coverage for the procedure.

The contribution made by CT to the cumulative population radiation dose, as a proportion of all medical examinations, continues to rise.

Models based on the past can be helpful when trying to predict the future. So it has been with SPECT/CT.

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The chairs of the three House of Representatives committees that oversee health policy have released an outline of healthcare reform that could lead to significant changes for radiology.

Direct communications between radiologists and their congressional representatives and letter-writing campaigns have become key ingredients for medical imaging lobbying efforts directed at the White House and Capitol.

The Radiology Business Management Association has called into question a recommendation to increase the assumed utilization rate from 50% to 90% for the relative value unit scale used to calculate outpatient Medicare payment rates for high-tech imaging procedures.

The American College of Radiology has alerted members to a fax-based fraud that asks radiologists for business-related information that is then used to bill Medicare for fraudulent services.

Siemens prepares to highlight syngo portals at SIIMAmicas focuses on patient and payer services

A set of healthcare reform funding options presented to the Senate Finance Committee has confirmed imaging provider fears about possible payment cuts. One option includes a Medicare Payment Advisory Commission proposal to recalculate the Medicare payment formula for the technical component of imaging services.

Buoyed by abundant cash and a profitable business formula, Alliance Healthcare is bucking the economic gloom that pervades the for-profit sector of medical imaging and implementing aggressive growth plans in 2009.

With obstacles to routine Medicare reimbursement of FDG-PET for most cancer cases cleared away, the imaging community is now focusing attention on private insurers and coverage policies that restrict access to the imaging technology.