As 2014 moved into its fourth and final quarter, the one-year hourglass turned on ICD-9, and no one on the exhibit floor at the Radiology Business Management Association’s 2014 Fall Educational Conference, Oct. 19–21 in Seattle, expected another reprieve.

BREMEN, Germany & BURLINGTON, Mass. — Background: Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in the United States, causing more deaths each year than breast, colon, pancreas and prostate cancers combined. The National Lung Screening Trial proved that CT lung cancer screening (LCS) can reduce deaths due to lung cancer by at least 20% in individuals at high-risk. The resulting endorsement of LCS by the United States Preventive Services Task Force means that millions of high-risk Americans will be granted insurance coverage for annual LCS beginning in 2015.

Forget about all of the work waiting for you when you get back, there are so many compelling reasons to attend an annual meeting of one of radiology’s specialty organizations. Hearing new ideas from peers and experts, shopping for technology, software or services and networking are the obvious reasons. In this climate of change and uncertainty, one also hopes to lift one’s head from the electronic grindstone and recharge the batteries. On all of these fronts, the recent meeting of the Radiology Business Management Association did not disappoint.

Showcased at the recent Radiology Business Management Association (RBMA) Fall Educational Conference in Seattle, Wash, RBMA-U is now open and accepting online enrollments. RBMA representatives at the conference were eager to talk about the new online training resource and its application to radiology business managers at all experience levels. 

As Ebola continues to strike fear into the hearts of healthcare workers everywhere, those stationed in imaging areas—or regularly passing through—should look back on, and learn from, the SARS pandemic of 2003.

The Radiology Business Management Association brought back its popular five-minute forecast session at the Fall Educational Conference in Seattle earlier this week.  It just may be the perfect information-delivery format for our technology-induced attention-deficit-disorder world.

Don’t look for much to happen in Congress through the end of the year: It's an election year, and there are too many seats at stake.

Eight-radiologist Casper Medical Imaging in Casper, Wyo., has joined Palmetto, Fla.-based Strategic Radiology, becoming the first small, rural affiliate of the 18-practice collaborative.