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.

Debt Ceiling Deal Leaves Device Tax in Place

However, medical device developers may get another run at ending the 2.3% excise tax on medical devices soon

Mostashari Shares Concerns After Leaving ONC

In one of his first public speaking opportunities since leaving his position as head of the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology, Farzad Mostashari, MD, expressed some concerns he could not have shared before leaving the ONC

HIE Study Finds Major Savings in Reducing Duplicative Imaging in ERs

A study on how access to a health information exchange (HIE) in South Carolina impacted emergency department care costs found that nearly half of the more than $1 million in savings documented was due to a reduction in the need for ordering imaging tests

RSNA/ACR Support USPSTF Recommendation on CT Lung Cancer Screening but Wait to Issue Own Guidelines

In a statement of support for the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) draft recommendation in favor of CT lung cancer screening of high-risk individuals, the RSNA and ACR also stated that that the ACR is working on guidelines and practice standards, but for now, providers and patients should follow the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guideline for lung cancer screening

Diagnostic Laboratories and Radiology to Pay $17.5 Million Settlement

The California mobile radiology and laboratory company Diagnostic Laboratories and Radiology (Diagnostic Labs) has reached a settlement with the government over allegations that the company paid kickbacks for referrals

Obama's Radiologist Second Cousin to Run as Tea Party Candidate

Milton Wolf, a 42-year-old radiologist from Leawood, Kan., who practices at Alliance Radiology's Shawnee Mission Division, has announced that he will challenge U.S. Senator Pat Roberts in the Republican primary in Kansas next year

Imaging and the ACO: Collaborating on Patient-centered Care

Sponsored by Hitachi Healthcare Americas

Michael Budimir, regional director of imaging services for Franciscan Alliance, an Indiana accountable-care organization (ACO), defines the principal goal of the ACO simply. “Everything has to be patient centered,” he says. “Today, in health care, we have to reevaluate everything from the patient’s perspective. In the ACO model, what helps the patient also helps the institution.”

Culture’s Role in Successful Radiology-market Consolidation

MMP

On September 4, 2013, Zotec Partners completed its planned acquisition of Medical Management Professionals (MMP) and created one of the largest revenue-cycle–management and practice-management companies in the country. The consolidation of the two companies mirrors the consolidation occurring in the primary industry that they serve—radiology—and

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.