Many changes mandated by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) are already underway, but health care still has time for a deep breath before the biggest change of all: In 2014, the insured-patient base is set to explode, driven by limits in payors’ ability to deny coverage, by expansion of Medicaid, by the launch of state health

2011 proved to be another banner year for consolidation in the radiology industry, and with increasing downward pressure on reimbursement, the trend of groups joining together to provide more specialized care (while achieving economies of scale) can be expected to continue. While operational and financial assessments are premerger hallmarks,

Streamlining interaction between imaging departments and referring clinicians not only saves time, lives, and duplicate studies, but can also improve productivity. One of the most powerful new approaches to eliminating the physical and networking barriers to image sharing is the use of cloud computing.

As someone who has found himself—more than once—in a mad dash to catch the day’s last FedEx® pickup so that an out-of-town physician could have a patient’s images stat, Tom Hasley sees the wisdom of a cloud-based solution to image delivery. Hasley is systems support manager, ambulatory services, for Rex Healthcare (Raleigh, North Carolina), and he

Patients are at the center of control in an ongoing effort by the RSNA to standardize the way that medical images are shared on the Internet. In August 2011, The RSNA Image Share Network started enrolling its first patients to have images and reports stored electronically, through an online network accessible anywhere in the world.

Molecular breast imaging is proving its worth as an low-dose alternative to MRI for women with dense breasts.

Much has been written about improving quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) in radiology, but little attention has been paid to the processes for which the technologist is responsible—in spite of the technologist’s critical role in ensuring that imaging devices are properly calibrated. Nikunj Desai, algorithms developer for iCRco

In making the decision to take or pass on a new hospital contract, radiology groups often let emotion supersede reason, Jana Landreth, CPA, director of practice management at Medical Management Professionals, Inc (MMP), Atlanta, Georgia, explains. “The factor that most often challenges these decisions is emotion,” she says. “It manifests itself as