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.

Government Shutdown May Help Get Device Tax Repealed

Health care lobbyists tell Washington, D.C., news source The Hill that they are close to winning a repeal of the 2.3% medical device excise tax included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the mounting pressure on both parties to compromise on a government funding and debt ceiling deal may be working in their favor

Lexmark Buys PACSGEAR for $54 Million

In order to improve Lexmark’s Perceptive healthcare content management and workflow solutions and vendor neutral archive (VNA), Lexmark International has acquired leading PACS connectivity platform PACSGEAR for a cash purchase price of approximately $54 million

How the Government Shutdown Affects Medical Imaging

It is hard to measure the indirect impact on medical imaging from the overall negative economic consequences of a government shutdown. However, the direct impact on practical day-to-day business operations should be fairly small judging by the contingency plans of various government agencies

Medical Device Tax Survives as Government Shuts Down

Last year, the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) referred to the 2.3% medical device excise tax as a “job killing” burden that would also “stifle innovation.” More than a year after the NCPA Issue Brief, the tax lives on

Debate Over Debt Ceiling Deal Brings Up Repeal of Device Tax

In a debate on H.J. Res. 59, the Continuing Resolution, that would raise the U.S. debt ceiling, Senators John McCain (R-Ariz) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) urged their colleagues to consider an amendment to repeal the 2.3 percent Medical Device Tax

Republican Senators Ask HHS to Extend Meaningful Use Stage 2 Deadline

Seventeen senators have written to U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to ask her to delay penalties on providers who will not be ready to meet Stage 2 requirements of the Electronic Health Records (EHR) incentive program by next year

vRad Expands Patent Suit Against Competitors

Lawyers for Minneapolis-based Virtual Radiologic (vRad) have amended the company’s patent-infringement complaint against Tandem Radiology, Direct Radiology and Imaging Advantage to also include an additional recent patent

Senate Passes Helium Reserve Bill

The 97 to 2 roll call vote in favor of the bi-partisan bill (H.R. 527) virtually guarantees the U.S. Helium Reserve will stay open past the October 7 deadline to close it

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.