The American College of Radiology (ACR) and Society of Breast Imaging (SBI) have published new breast cancer screening guidelines, once again recommending that all women begin annual screening at age 40.

Screening mammography utilization dropped in 2010 after years of growth, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Roentgenology. The decline in utilization, the authors noted, seems to have been brought on by revised breast cancer screening guidelines released by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in 2009.

While it might not be on every physician’s daily radar, graduate medical education (GME) funding is still key to quality healthcare and has implications for both academic centers and private practices. 

When President Trump signed the $1.3 trillion spending bill into law on March 23, it included an extension of a rule first passed in 2015 that recognizes 2002 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) breast cancer screening recommendations as opposed to 2009 or 2016 recommendations.

Enrollment in a Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) Accountable Care Organization (ACO) is associated with improvements in appropriateness of breast and colorectal screening, according to a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. It was also associated with a reduction in the number of patients being screened for prostate cancer.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Florida Gov. Rick Scott have all signed breast density reporting legislation into law this week. These laws require facilities that perform mammography to notify patients when it is determined they have dense breast tissue.

Fight Colorectal Cancer, a patient advocacy group first founded in 2005, is sending representatives to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., for the 12th straight year to ask lawmakers to support “the prevention, detection and treatment of colorectal cancer.” This year, the group is sending 150 advocates from the United States and Puerto Rico.

In its latest quarterly update, CMS answered a key question related to the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016, which included language that incentivized imaging providers to upgrade computed radiography (CR) equipment to digital radiography (DR).