As you define, measure, and innovate value in radiology, be sure to innovate value capture as well

Now that we're reaching the one year mark of the official launch of the health insurance exchange, critics and supporters continue to debate whether or not healthcare reform is reforming anything. According to an article in Forbes today, something much bigger is happening. Whatever you think of its merits, the Affordable Care Act is re-shaping American healthcare, radically altering business models that hadn’t changed in decades.  

A new analysis shows radiologists carved out of lower-cost Obamacare insurance plans to a notably greater degree than cardiologists and neurologists. 

After 20 months of buildup, the federal government’s new Open Payments website finally launched last week—and landed with a thud. Massive and fragmented to the point of being, as one observer put it, “so complicated that it’s almost useless,” the system seems unready for prime time. 

Most medical practices are finding it more and more expensive to staff up with essential business and office professionals. The rising payroll expenses have little to do with salary demands and much to do with federally mandated reporting programs: More rules and regulations call for more hands on deck. 

We live in a culture of bling in which heat and chutzpah trump almost everything—what else explains the fact that Kim Kardashian has a leading game app in the Apple store? Given that, and the fact that India just put a satellite into orbit around Mars for a fraction ($74 million) of what we spent ($671 million) to send MAVEN to Mars, I’d like to take a few of your minutes to praise the virtues of thrift, despite the fact (or maybe because of it) that we are a country with a nearly $18 trillion dollar debt and an unsustainable Medicare program.

Is Medicare’s accountable care organization (ACO) program a modest success to build on or a major disappointment in the making? That depends on whom you’ve been listening to, and when.

The 2015 proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) are consistent with those from previous years, continuing to whittle away the revenue stream of radiologists. While the overall impact to radiology is estimated at two percent based on the current proposal, there are some notable changes proposed that may cause the impact to be significantly higher in certain situations.