Business Intelligence

Providers utilize business intelligence to monitor referral patterns and collaborate with clinicians who order their services. Such analytics tools have also been deployed in the specialty to improve productivity, track patient satisfaction and bolster quality.

Chinese Imaging Provider Acquires Ownership Interest in MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center

Concord Medical Services, based in China, has closed the acquisition of 19.98% of indirect ownership of the University of Texas MD Anderson Proton Therapy Center

iCAD Digital CAD Approved for Use with Philips Digital Mammography System

The FDA has approved iCAD’s PowerLook Advanced Mammography Platform (AMP), with Digital CAD for Philips’ MicroDose Full-Field Digital Mammography System

ACS Comes Out in Favor of CT Lung Cancer Screening for Heavy Smokers

The move by the influential American Cancer Society (ACS) will push more payors to cover the test and adds pressure to develop national guidelines and practice standards

New Meaningful Use Guidance Clarifies the Radiology Hardship Exception

The exception will apply to diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine and interventional radiology, but not to radiation oncologists

Changing Imaging Vendors: Provider Engagement Is Key to Smooth Transitions

Sponsored by Hitachi Healthcare Americas

When Baptist St. Anthony’s Health System (BSA), Amarillo, Texas, decided (in early 2012) to replace two of its MRI systems—one in an outpatient center and the other in the hospital—it faced the prospect of changing imaging-equipment vendors in at least one of the facilities, as each had a different vendor’s MRI unit. What the two systems had in

Imaging's 2013 Merger/Acquisition Outlook: Rounding the Bend

VMG

Following several years of fast-paced merger/acquisition activity, the imaging market is poised to turn a corner in 2013, according to valuation experts Elliott Jeter, CFA, CPA/ABV, and Todd Sorensen, AVA, both partners with VMG Health. “This will be the year where pricing for imaging centers gets too high from the patient’s perspective,” Jeter

Beyond the Rate: Payor Contracting for Radiology Practices

MMP

Few business processes for radiology practices are as fraught as negotiating managed-care contracts. Their duration and durability put a significant level of both current and future income on the line, but small and medium-sized practices, in particular, might feel that they have little leverage in the negotiating process. The keys to gaining the

The Economics of Meaningful Use for Radiology in 2013 and Beyond

RamSoft

Going into 2013, the message for radiology regarding participation in the meaningful-use program has not changed; if anything, it has intensified, according to Keith Dreyer, DO, PhD, vice chair of radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and coauthor of The Radiologist’s Guide to Meaningful Use (RMU Press, 2011). “There is going to be

Around the web

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.

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.

The all-in-one Omni Legend PET/CT scanner is now being manufactured in a new production facility in Waukesha, Wisconsin.