The attorney general of Kansas has reached an agreement with Prime Healthcare Services Inc. to allow it to acquire two Catholic charity hospitals — the 400-bed Providence Medical Center in Kansas City, and the 80-bed St. John Hospital in Leavenworth.

The proposed law would exempt doctors who are solo practitioners, are near retirement age or don’t conduct traditional office visits. The last exception would presumably apply to radiologists.

For Medicare providers, the 2 percent across-the-board cut to reimbursement is now in effect. It’s implementation on April Fools Day may seem apt as these cuts were supposed to have been so severe and harmful that no one in their right mind would let them go into effect

Seeking to close the in-office ancillary services exception to the law preventing physician self referral, the Association for Quality Imaging has scheduled a Washington, D.C., advocacy day on May 8

For providers with low- to mid-volume imaging needs, Fujifilm has introduced the FCR Prima-T2, a compact and lightweight Computed Radiography (CR) reader.

The FDA has given 501(k) clearance to Fujifilm SonoSite Inc.’s latest needle guidance technology that combines ultrasound imaging with advanced magnetics to allow physicians more precise control in deep needle-based procedures.

Radiology advocates are still reeling from the fiscal cliff deal, a piece of legislation that failed to reverse the multiple payment procedure reduction (MPPR) and boosted the utilization rate on imaging equipment to 90%. MPPR correction legislation is back on the docket and racking up co-sponsors, but what about the utilization rate?

Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD) and David Vitter (R-LA) last week introduced legislation to stop the multiple procedure payment reduction (MPPR) from going into effect on the professional component of Medicare advanced diagnostic imaging reimbursement