Since the announcement of the ICD-10 delay earlier this year, many healthcare providers have questioned the need to continue spending on staff and physician training. Additionally, some questioned whether ICD-10 would be implemented at all, and the transition would simply be made to the ICD-11 coding. An article in the current issue of the Journal of AHIMA addresses some of the most common concerns surrounding ICD-10 and intends to dispel several misconceptions.

After a false start or two, CMS has set a final ICD-10 implementation deadline for October 1, 2015, as widely expected. 

Two of the nation’s most well-known healthcare organizations, Johns Hopkins Medicine and Kaiser Permanente, announced a strategic collaboration that joins one’s academic research and clinical capabilities with the other’s expertise in population health management.

A recent study published in the journal Cancer concluded that patient anxiety associated with a false positive lung-cancer screening was no greater at one and six months post-screening than that of patients who received a negative result.

Radiologists are working harder and retiring later than desired, according to a workplace survey of active radiologists published in the journal Academic Radiology, making it difficult to predict whether the future supply of radiologists will be adequate to meet demand.

The current physician piecemeal reimbursement model ultimately drives up the costs of healthcare according to Sandeep Jauhar, MD. In a New York Times editorial he explains that while overutilization is certainly a factor, cutting payments to physicians is a self-defeating strategy, forcing them to increase the number of patients they see, which reduces the amount of time spent with each one. Busy doctors call on others to help with the patient load, often times specialists who may order more tests, driving up costs. "There is no more wasteful entity in medicine than a rushed doctor," says Jauhar.  

The Obama Administration reports more than eight million people have signed up for health insurance under the new healthcare law, but many of those newly insured are confused. Responses like this are common: “I have my card, now what?” or “I pay my premium, why am I getting a bill?”

While studies using Medicare Part B data indicate a decline in outpatient imaging utilization in recent years, a new study suggests a different trend in the commercially insured patient population.