Exactly one week after 45 U.S. Senators sent a letter to CMS urging the expeditious conclusion of the National Coverage Decision (NCD) for LDCT lung-cancer screening, 134 U.S. Representatives did the same, implying broad bipartisan support of access to the screening study for high-risk Medicare recipients.

Radiologist Eric Schnipper, MD, provided an economic perspective on the Veteran’s Administration hospital crisis for CNBC’s “Street Signs” segment last week.

The idea of equalizing prices between inpatient and outpatient sites has hovered over the hospital industry like a dark cloud in recent years; on Wednesday, a House subcommittee on Health heard input from a variety of interested parties, including MedPAC, which has recommended site neutral-payments for over a decade.

In a final rule intended to reduce unnecessary regulatory burden, CMS has abandoned the radiologist oversight requirement for radiologic services performed in ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), report attorneys Paul Pitts, JD, and Thomas Greeson, JD, Reed Smith, Falls Church, VA. The new rule instead requires ASCs to appoint a qualified individual under state law who can assure that services performed as integral to surgical procedures are provided under the ASC Conditions of Coverage.

STAMFORD, Conn. & BOTHELL, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN), 40% of all women undergoing screening mammography have dense breast tissue. FUJIFILM Medical Systems U.S.A., Inc., a leading provider of diagnostic imaging products, and FUJIFILM SonoSite Inc., the world leader in point-of-care (POC) ultrasound, will sponsor an educational symposium titled “Navigating through the Dense Breast Imaging Landscape” on May 8, 2014 from 6:00 – 8:30 PM at the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland, Oregon.

Lung and bronchus cancer is most frequently diagnosed among people aged 65-74, precisely a population for which Medicare is responsible, yet a CMS advisory panel gave low-dose CT lung-cancer screening a vote of low confidence in a meeting today in Baltimore.

When it meets in Baltimore on April 30 to weigh recommending Medicare coverage of low-dose CT lung-cancer screening, the Medicare Evidence Development & Coverage Advisory Committee (MEDCAC) will consider public comments from 16 speakers including four radiologists, a radiation oncologist and a radiation physicist.  

Three years ago, the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) reported a 20% reduction in lung-cancer mortality with annual low-dose CT (LDCT) screening.