Policy & Regulations

This channel includes news coverage of healthcare policy and regulations set by Congress, the states, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and medical associations and societies. 

Radiologist gets 12-month timeout for physically violating patient

A radiologist in the U.K. has received a 1-year suspension for inappropriately touching a patient while conducting a spinal ultrasound exam.

‘Radiology failures, misdiagnosed fractures’ blamed in 2 wrongful assumptions of child battery

In the U.K., two instances of evidently inept work by radiologists are inadvertently spotlighting the value of subspecialized image interpretation in socially sensitive patient cases.

Example of the four types of breast tissue density. The density of fibroglandular tissue inside the breast impacts the ability to easily see cancers. Cancers are very easy to spot in fatty breasts, but are almost impossible to find in extremely dense breasts. These examples show craniocaudal mammogram findings characterized as almost entirely fatty (far left), scattered areas of fibroglandular density (second from left), heterogeneously dense (second from right), and extremely dense (far right). RSNA

Breast density notification laws blanket 90% of U.S. women, yet still no national reporting standard is at hand. Why is that?

Dense breast experts Wendie Berg, MD, and JoAnn Pushkin, executive director of DenseBreast-info Inc., explain the current status of breast density patient inform laws, reimbursement and new technologies to aid cancer detection. 

Female Medical Research Scientist Working with Brain Scans

FDA approves AI analysis of high-grade gliomas

An AI startup in the neuro-oncology space has received the government’s go-ahead to market software for analyzing certain fast-growing brain tumors on MRI.

Patient access to radiology reports: 2 angles

Should patients read their radiology reports ahead of the doctor who ordered the exam? That’s not a new question. It was supposed to have been settled in the affirmative by the 21st Century Cures Act.

Mr. O’Lear receives his sentence: 15 years and $2M

The criminal saga of the X-ray business owner who got caught fleecing CMS of $2 million—while grabbing for another $1.7 million or so—has reached its epilogue.

black woman breast cancer pink ribbon

Disparities in breast cancer detection and care persist, despite a drop in mortality, new ACS report reveals

While Black women have lower incidence of breast cancer diagnosis, their mortality rates are 40% higher than those observed in white women.  

Radiation oncology relatively low in ‘hazardous attitudes,’ although ‘macho’ makes the radar

The Federal Aviation Administration assesses pilots for five “hazardous attitudes” that may forewarn of risky behaviors in the air. Therapeutic radiology researchers have adapted the FAA scale for radiation oncologists making treatment decisions.

Around the web

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.

The all-in-one Omni Legend PET/CT scanner is now being manufactured in a new production facility in Waukesha, Wisconsin.