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.

Hawaii Pacific Health: PACS Takes the EMR for a Drive

Sponsored by FUJIFILM Healthcare Americas

In the island state of Hawaii, there is a four-hospital system, based in Honolulu, called Hawaii Pacific Health (HPH), with outposts and imaging technology deployed throughout the Hawaiian archipelago. This system is served by four different radiology practices, reading approximately 300,000 studies annually.

Medicare Overspent On Emergency Imaging

Medicare spent too much money on imaging in 2008, paying a total of $38 million in erroneous claims for the interpretation of CT, MRI, and x-ray studies performed at hospital emergency departments, says a report issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG).

Hologic Receives FDA Clearance For DEXA Body Values

Hologic, Inc. yesterday announced that it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance to incorporate the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) Whole Body Reference Data into its Discovery dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) systems. These body composition values are useful to healthcare professionals in their

CMS Payment Proposal Disappoints Hospitals

The American Hospital Association (AHA) has publicly said its constituents are “deeply disappointed” by a proposed rule for fiscal 2012 issued Tuesday by the Centers For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Effective for discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2011, the proposed rule would decrease average inpatient payments to acute-care

Imaging Coalition Rejects MedPAC Recommendation

The Imaging e-Ordering Coalition is urging the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) to abandon its recommendation that practitioners who order high levels of imaging be required to obtain prior authorization. An alliance of providers, companies, and associations whose ranks include the American College of Radiology (ACR), the coalition

CD/PACS Integration May Reduce Emergency Room Imaging Rates

Successful integration of CDs into PACS has the potential to reduce the number of imaging studies performed in hospital emergency departments, according to a two-part study conducted at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and published in the May issue of Radiology.

HHS Launches Nationwide Initiative To Reduce Medical Errors

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last week announced the launch of Partners for Patients, a new program aimed at eliminating medical errors and reducing healthcare costs on a national scale.

Application Shown To Increase Lung Nodule Detection

Using a bone suppression application with chest x-rays significantly increases the detection of lung nodules proven to be primary lung cancer, according to a peer-reviewed study funded by Riverain Medical, a provider of computer-aided detection (CAD) and advanced visualization technologies.

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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.