Radiology’s existing coding structure is undergoing a dramatic transformation, which is the product of numerous code screens being used by CMS and the RVS Update Committee to identify potentially misvalued services. The application of these code screens often results in the conversion of old codes to new codes. The conversion to new codes has

The June 2011 MedPAC Report to the Congress1 has the undivided attention of the entire specialty, just days after its release—for good reason. Pages 27 through 59 detail the commission’s recommendations to curtail further the amount of imaging occurring in medicine and to redistribute professional income from image-reading specialties to primary

The old adage “location, location, location”—meaning location is everything—doesn’t apply to health care expenditures. A new study indicates regional disparities in the cost of certain procedures, with patients paying up to 683% more for the same procedures, in the same town, depending on the provider that administered them.

Provisions for imaging cuts stipulated in the pending United States-South Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act were removed late yesterday by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. The provisions would have increased the required equipment utilization rate for advanced diagnostic imaging equipment services, or the rate at which Medicare

Controlling overutilization of medical services — particularly costly services such as medical imaging — is something everyone seems to agree on but no one seems able to do under the fee-for-service system.

Patients experience more waiting room stress than you may think. A new study in Radiology on patient stress levels in the waiting room has implications for diagnostic radiology executives.

The recent controversy surrounding mammography may die down somewhat with the release, in the July 2011 issue of Radiology, of a three-decade-long study in Sweden demonstrating that death from breast cancer is prevented in every 414 to 519 women who undergo the procedure. Previous studies had pegged this figure at 1,000 to 1,500 women.

Heralding its move into the market for equipment optimized for breast screening, Philips Healthcare has inked an agreement with Sectra AB to acquire the vast majority of the latter’s Mamea AB low-dose mammography division for 57.5 million euros ($82 million U.S.) in cash upfront, plus an additional 1 million euros ($18 million) pending the