The final rule for the 2014 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule, which was released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in November, announced significant reductions in reimbursement for imaging-heavy specialties, and these reimbursement cuts will have major effects on future revenue streams for imaging facilities all over the country. 

Radiology groups are continuously being required to run their businesses more efficiently due to the current healthcare environment, in which reimbursements are declining and consumers are shouldering more of their own healthcare expenses under the new healthcare law.

As healthcare evolves, so too must healthcare consumers, providers, and payors. Healthcare consumers have increased access to coverage through the new health law, as well as through cooperative efforts between employers, providers, and payors to provide more affordable coverage. Many of the new plans offer affordable premiums that unfortunately, come with high deductibles.

Kenneth Kaufman, CEO, Kaufman Hall, sounded the alarm at HFMA’s recent annual meeting in Las Vegas: Hospitals must engage with patients in an increasingly outpatient-focused way, lower their cost structure, aggressively reposition for fee-for-value payment and prepare now for new competitive threats.

Despite a decade of reimbursement cuts, three practices manage to thrive by employing innovative tactics and setting new standards of service in radiology

Pittsburgh-based Foundation Radiology raised $2.5 million from investors, reports the Pittsburgh Business Times.

Shortly after the new business rules governing electronic funds transfer (EFT) transactions went into effect on January 1, Robert Tennant, MGMA senior policy advisor, began to ask for a show of hands when he spoke to physician groups to get a sense of how many physicians were receiving EFT payment via virtual credit card.

The team from the Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute, led by radiologist Richard Duszak, Jr., MD, made an interesting inquiry into the quantity and nature of uncompensated imaging studies provided to emergency department (ED) patients, the results of which are published in the June issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.