Perspectives

Claudette Lew | | Radiology Business | Policy & Regulations

Its full steam ahead as the health insurance exchange (HIE) open enrollment period comes to a close. With the announcement that 7 million individuals have enrolled in the plan, many changes are expected based on this new patient population. Radiologists and other healthcare providers will be in the dark for some time, until data is released that may indicate how this group will affect utilization rates and revenues.

Data, it seems, is the key. Consumer business models that predict sales and revenue potential based on knowing our personal preferences and demographic information have become commonplace in our lives. Now some healthcare companies see the advantages that this information, in addition to personal health information, can add to predicting health risks, ability to cover financial responsibility for healthcare costs, and offering more comprehensive services to patients. There are still a lot of concerns, however, about personal privacy and ethics that need to be worked out before big data becomes commonplace in provider financial models.

Follow this news and more on our ImagingBiz portal or through our Twitter and Facebook updates.

Claudette Lew

Related Content

Congress reaches deal to partially blunt Medicare pay cut, ditches prior authorization reform
Senators introduce radiologist-backed bill to punish payers for ignoring No Surprises Act rulings
Congress reconsiders controversial changes to radiologist assistant payments
Mobile mammography units are not cannibalizing facility-based breast cancer screening
Radiology Partners study unearths 3 common barriers to lung cancer screening
Pending radiology bills in Congress and predicting the Trump administration's impact on imaging

Around the web

Health Imaging
Nearly $800,000 settlement offered to family of man who died during MRI exam

The patient, who was being cared for in the ICU, was not accompanied or monitored by nursing staff during his exam, despite being sedated.

Cardiovascular Business
Global shortage of nuclear imaging isotopes may be over

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

Cardiovascular Business
‘A huge win’: CMS significantly increases Medicare payments for cardiac CT

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.