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.

EHRs May Lead to More Rather Than Less Imaging

Electronic Health Records have largely been viewed as a critical way to reduce health care costs. The argument goes that when doctors have access to previous test results they are less likely to order additional or duplicative tests.

Researchers: Access to Tech, not Test Results, Drives Studies

Stop the presses, meaningful use advocates: a new study released in this month’s issue of Health Affairs challenges the notion that electronic access to a patient’s medical history necessarily results in fewer imaging studies being ordered.

Varian to Acquire InfiMed for $15M

The corporate consolidation beat marches on this week, as Varian Medical Systems scooped up digital radiography and fluoroscopy vendor InfiMed for $15 million plus “earnouts based on sales of InfiMed products achieved over the next 24 months,” according to a press release.

ACR Signs Near Majority of Congress to Repeal MPPR

The American College of Radiology has won over nearly a majority of Congressional Representatives for House Resolution 3269 that would repeal recent CMS cuts to multiple diagnostic imaging services.

Bayer Integrates Contrast Media Business into New Unit

Bayer Healthcare announced a new business unit this week at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR) 2012 meeting in Vienna.

Wisconsin New Licensure for Technologists Consistent with 38 Other States

Wisconsin joined 38 other states when it began licensing radiologic technologists this month to continue performing radiography imaging services.

Large-Scale Effort to Catalog Neural Connections Moves Into Trial Stage

Significant investments have been made to unlock the mysteries of human genetics, behavior, and various disease states. To date, however, research into the neural pathways that comprise the brain and their connectivity had not yet reached that same level of depth.

ASNC Releases Dose-Reduction Guidelines for Nuclear Cardiology

Technological improvements in image acquisition and software processing in nuclear cardiology should allow physicians to shave patient imaging times dramatically or cut radiation doses fourfold, according to a new preferred practice statement from the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC).

Around the web

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

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.