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.

ACR Comments on House Republicans' SGR Repeal Draft

Repealing SGR-formula mandated cuts to Medicare payments is something the ACR has long supported, but many questions remain in the draft legislation that keeps the College from giving it its full support, writes ACR Board of Chancellors Chairman, Paul H. Ellenbogen, MD, FACR

RSNA Awards More Than $3 Million in Grants

The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Research and Education Foundation has announced that it will fund 85 grants totaling more than $3 million this year

Foundation Radiology Scores $6 Million Credit Line

Foundation Radiology Group, a Pittsburgh-based practice that serves hospitals in the Northeast, Eastern Midwest and East Coast region of the United States, has obtained a $6 million credit from Square 1 Bank

289 Most Wired Hospitals Struggle to Share Data Across Borders

The annual list of the Most Wired U.S. hospitals from Hospitals & Health Networks, numbering 289 this year, offers both reason to cheer and evidence of roadblocks in the nation’s effort to tech-up its health-care system.

2014 HOPPS Proposed Rule Cuts Imaging Reimbursement

According to ACR analysis, the 2014 Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (HOPPS) proposal released July 8 could cut hospital outpatient CT and MRI reimbursement by 18% to 38%

Proposed 2014 Physician Fee Schedule Does Not Include MPPR

Although CMS could have proposed creating a 50% multiple procedure payment reduction (MPPR) on the professional component of advanced imaging (like in 2011), or elected to expand the MPPR to all forms of imaging, it decided to drop the issue instead

Half of Parents in Study on Pediatric CT Did Not Know Risks

A survey of 742 parents of children with head injuries being treated in Canadian emergency departments found that 52% said they did not know that a CT scan could increase their child’s risk of developing cancer

CMS Approves Extremely Limited Coverage for Alzheimer’s PET Test

Advocates for Medicare coverage of PET amyloid-beta imaging to confirm or rule out Alzheimer’s Disease had hoped for broad coverage, but in the end, the draft CMS decision memo only approved the test as part of coverage with evidence development (CED), a narrowly defined type of coverage that will take time to implement

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.