Medicare’s temporary freeze on payments for certain PET scans of solid tumors, which began Oct. 6 and won’t end until Nov. 11, came as no surprise. The agency announced last spring that it needed time to test and edit this part of its claims-processing system. 

More than 60 medical organizations and patient advocacy groups are now pleading with Medicare to cover low dose CT (LDCT) screening for beneficiaries at high risk for lung cancer. Decision day comes in November. Will CMS do the right thing in the eyes of those in favor of screening? 

The numbers are in, and they add up to a fire hose of data pushing Medicare to cover low-dose CT screenings for lung cancer in all beneficiaries who are at high risk. 

Doctors see the point of electronic health records, they just detest EHR systems as currently configured. The American Medical Association found as much last year, when its study with RAND Corp. confirmed widespread disgruntlement. Now AMA has issued a framework to fix the problems.

A secondary analysis of data from the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) reveals an even greater potential benefit in the Medicare-aged population than in the broader, 55-to-74 age group, with screen-detected cancer rates in the 65+ age group more than twice that of the 55–64 age group.

The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) has published model legislation that would ease credentialing requirements for physicians who provide telemedicine outside their home state’s borders—while preserving the primacy of the states in licensing physicians.

A radiologist considers the disconnect between evidence-based medicine and the courtroom.

Efforts by payors to lower the cost of healthcare have fueled the growth of insurance plans that feature narrow provider networks, which came under attack this year in California where many narrow-network products are offered on that state’s health insurance exchange (HIE).