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.

FDA Approves Updated Varian Radiation Therapy System

Varian Medical Systems’ updated ProBeam™ proton therapy system can now be marketed in the United States

Medicare Will Reveal Individual Physician Payments

CMS has published rules on how it will comply with requests for the actual dollar amounts it has paid to individual physicians

MedPAC Recommends Equalizing Many HOPPS and MPFS Charges

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has voted unanimously to reduce or eliminate discrepancies in what Medicare pays for services done in hospital outpatient departments versus physician offices and ambulatory surgery centers

Techs Sue Over Alleged Inadequate Radiation Shielding

Five imaging technologists at Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge, Tenn., are seeking damage compensation for radiation exposure they say they received from a CT scanner that operated for 7 years without adequate lead shielding in the wall between the scanner and the control room

ACR Names Thorwarth New CEO

William T. Thorwarth, Jr., M.D., FACR, will replace Harvey L. Neiman, M.D., FACR, as CEO of the American College of Radiology (ACR) in April

House Omnibus Budget Deal Rolls Back a Sequester Cut on Imaging Manufacturers

The $1.1 trillion omnibus spending package the House approved on Wednesday restores funding to the FDA for the approval of new medical devices, including advanced medical imaging technologies

Leading Imaging Center Chain CDI Picks Up Two More Locations

Minneapolis-based Center for Diagnostic Imaging (CDI) — the nation’s second largest imaging center chain since it joined with Lake Forest, Calif.-based Insight Imaging in 2012 — has completed acquisition of two more MRI Centers of New England’s locations.

Northwest Radiology Practice Names New Leader

Medical Imaging Northwest, a five-location radiology practice serving Washington State’s South King and Pierce counties, has named Christopher Archer as its Chief Administrative Officer

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.