To hear four radiologists who have immersed themselves in the minutiae of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act describe it, meaningful use—as it relates to radiologists—is an opportunity, a minefield, and a responsibility that could cost more than the $44,000 per radiologist that can be gained by

Since the first of the year, radiologists at Advanced Diagnostic Imaging (ADI), Belleville, Ill, have been using a new outcomes-based quality assurance program from NightHawk Radiology Services, Scottsdale, Ariz. NightHawk developed the program to realign quality assurance with patient care, focusing first on the effect a discrepancy may have on

Medicine in general is evolving toward a patient-centered, outcomes-based model, and radiology should be no exception, according to Timothy Myers, MD, senior vice president and CMO of NightHawk Radiology Services, Scottsdale, Arizona. “We’re looking at things less from the standpoint of the physician and more from the standpoint of the patient, and

Radiologists, like all physicians, have always been concerned about the quality of their work, but in recent years, the specialty’s focus on quality has been renewed. Paul Larson, MD, chair of the Commission on Quality and Safety of the ACR®, says, “Historically, we looked almost exclusively at whether we got the right answers in our reports. What

The radiology department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Boston, Massachusetts, developed a policy for communicating critical and discrepant results after the Joint Commission made communications among caregivers a national priority for health-care providers. When the goal was expanded in 2007, the department took the next step and used IT

The San Francisco General Hospital/University of California–San Francisco Department of Radiology has created a groundbreaking communications tool called Radiologue. Alexander V. Rybkin, MD, a radiologist in that department, described the system in “A Web-based Flexible Communication System in Radiology,” which he presented in Minneapolis,

In February, the FDA announced a new initiative to reduce unnecessary radiation exposure from CT, nuclear-medicine, and fluoroscopy exams. The agency’s three-pronged approach will include issuing safeguard requirements for device manufacturers, incorporating quality-assurance measures in mandatory CMS accreditation for imagers, and creating

While the industry landscape has certainly changed significantly since Radiology Business Journal published my article on this subject three years ago, the primary factors that drive the desire to complete transactions and the valuations remain largely intact.