Management

This page includes content on healthcare management, including health system, hospital, department and clinic business management and administration. Areas of focus are on cardiology and radiology department business administration. Subcategories covered in this section include healthcare economics, reimbursement, leadership, mergers and acquisitions, policy and regulations, practice management, quality, staffing, and supply chain.

Practice managers demand ‘immediate action’ on physician Medicare pay cut
The Medical Group Management Association made its demands in a letter to newly appointed leaders in the U.S. House and Senate sent Tuesday.
Interventional radiologists across the globe agree: Specialty must increase awareness
Researchers recently fielded the survey, hoping to collect information about the state of IR practice and factors that impact access.
Payment incentives fail to push physicians toward MRI surveillance of low-risk prostate cancer
BCBS of Michigan has sought to push urologists away from aggressive treatment for low-risk cancer, offering a payment perk to shift their approach.
Reimbursement update: What hospitals need to know about new Medicare payments for cardiac CT
CMS finalized a significant policy change when it increased the Medicare payments hospitals receive for performing CCTA exams. What, exactly, does the update mean for cardiologists, billing specialists and other hospital employees?
Practice acquisition will create 1 of the largest teleradiology groups in the US
Phoenix-based OnRad Inc. is acquiring competitor Direct Radiology from Royal Philips for an undisclosed sum, seeking to bolster recruitment and pursue operational efficiencies.

ASTRO Survey Reveals Potential Impact of Proposed MPFS Cuts for Radiation Oncology

When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposed 2013 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS), members of the radiation oncology community discovered that they would face for cuts representing a 15 percent reduction in overall payment. According to the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), this would

August 1, 2012

RadNet Begins Offering Alzheimer’s Disease Testing with Amyvid Tracer

Late yesterday afternoon, RadNet Inc., the nation’s largest imaging center chain, performed its first Alzheimer’s Disease test using Eli Lilly’s radioactive tracer Amyvid and PET/CT imaging, confirmed Judith Rose, MD, director of PET/CT and nuclear medicine for RadNet.

July 31, 2012

ACR Backs CDS as Stage 3 Meaningful Use Discussion Begins

Final Stage 3 meaningful use rules are a long way away—2014 by most estimates—but initial guidelines are indeed being discussed. According to Michael Peters, the American College of Radiology (ACR) continues to strongly advocate for appropriateness / criteria-based clinical decision support (CDS) to be leveraged by referring physicians during order

July 30, 2012

NHLBI Study Finds CCTA for ER Chest Pain Patients Leads to Faster Diagnosis, Quicker Discharge

The eagerly awaited follow-up study to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Rule Out Myocardial Infarction/Ischemia Using Computer Assisted Tomography (ROMICAT) study is out, and it could support adding coronary CT angiography (CCTA) to chest pain ER screening procedures.

July 27, 2012

New York State Passes Breast Density Inform Law

New York has become the fourth state with a breast density inform law. Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed the “Breast Density Inform” (S.6769-B) legislation and the law will take effect in 180 days.

July 26, 2012

ACR: Health Affairs Study on Imaging Doesn’t Tell Full Story

The ACR has gone on the offensive to counter possible misunderstandings about imaging that may result from a new study in the the August issue of Health Affairs. The study found that the use of advanced imaging for Medicare patients decreased in 2006 and 2007, after 10 years of rapid increase (more than 6% growth annually) in imaging utilization.

July 26, 2012

GNAX Health, Acuo Technologies and Client Outlook Announce Healthcare IT Alliance

GNAX Health, Acuo Technologies and Client Outlook announced the formation of a new strategic alliance to provide an integrated and simplified solution for medical image access, exchange and management.

July 25, 2012

Chinese Diagnostic Imaging Market to Reach More Than $2.5 Billion by 2016

The Chinese diagnostic imaging market will grow to reach a value of more than $2.5 billion by 2016, according to the Millennium Research Group (MRG), a global authority on medical technology market intelligence.

July 25, 2012

Around the web

Health Imaging

Nearly $800,000 settlement offered to family of man who died during MRI exam

The patient, who was being cared for in the ICU, was not accompanied or monitored by nursing staff during his exam, despite being sedated.

Cardiovascular Business

Global shortage of nuclear imaging isotopes may be over

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.

Cardiovascular Business

‘A huge win’: CMS significantly increases Medicare payments for cardiac CT

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.

Management

Practice managers demand ‘immediate action’ on physician Medicare pay cut

Interventional radiologists across the globe agree: Specialty must increase awareness

Payment incentives fail to push physicians toward MRI surveillance of low-risk prostate cancer

Reimbursement update: What hospitals need to know about new Medicare payments for cardiac CT

Practice acquisition will create 1 of the largest teleradiology groups in the US

Around the web