Gena Norris, wife of actor and martial artist Chuck Norris, claimed to have suffered severe side-effects from gadolinium poisoning in a television interview aired June 11.

Gender diversity matters. According to research from more than 350 global public companies by McKinsey & Company, companies in the top quartile for gender diversity were more likely to have financial returns above the national median. In the United States, the correlation between gender diversity and improved revenue performance is strongest once women constitute at least 22 percent of a senior executive team.1 Gender diversity within an organization can increase revenue by improving recruiting methods, customer orientation, employee satisfaction and decision making. Increasing gender diversity in radiology, a specialty in which women are currently grossly underrepresented, offers an opportunity to gain a competitive advantage in the healthcare marketplace.

For nearly 30 years, gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) have been used to aid diagnosis in clinical MRIs and have been considered safe for patients without severe renal insufficiency. Recent studies have shown that traces of gadolinium may be retained in a patient’s brain after use, however, sparking a firestorm of passionate debate.

As a collectively key component of the Affordable Care Act, accountable care organizations (ACOs) entered the present decade looking poised to enjoy a long and dominant run in the driver’s seat of U.S. healthcare economics. Many providers—not just primary-care “gatekeeper” docs but specialists too—had the sense they’d better join, align with or otherwise befriend an ACO if they wanted to remain enduringly relevant and maximally reimbursable. Today, the buzz is centered on CMS’s Quality Payment Program (QPP), with its MACRA and MIPS alphabet soup hogging the spotlight.

In the not-too-distant past, patients seldom, if ever, had an opportunity to meet face-to-face with a radiologist or access their own imaging reports. In addition, providers rarely asked for feedback or considered the patient’s perspective when implementing new policies. But in the age of patient satisfaction, times are changing as radiology practices and hospital radiology departments are implementing patient-centered strategies intended to improve patient care and, in turn, support an increased level of patient satisfaction.

Pediatric radiology faces many of the same challenges inherent to pediatric specialties but the varied age and size of patients and lack of patient cooperation are especially problematic for imaging.

Text reminders to patients scheduled for MRI exams reduced patient no-shows at Massachusetts General Hospital, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

Financial incentives for appropriately using clinical decision support (CDS) are scheduled to kick in on Jan. 1, 2018. Do you know what your plan of action is? CDS implementation is one of the biggest topics at SIIM 2017 in Pittsburgh, and a large crowd gathered the morning of June 1 for a presentation by thought leaders Keith D. Hentel, MD, MS, of New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center, and Kevin W. McEnery, MD, of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.