American Fork, Utah, December 2, 2013 – Novarad’s NovaCardio™ ECG seamlessly integrates with CPACS / CVIS to enable digital ECG reading, annotation, manipulation, storage and easy reporting. NovaCardio ECG is being debuted at RSNA at Novarad’s booth #7353.

Chicago, December 2, 2013 -- Gamma Medica, Inc. announces new additions to its management team. The company’s most recent hires include Jason Koshnitsky, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, and Sang Lee, Senior Director of Marketing.  Gamma Medica is expanding its sales and marketing organization to support the commercialization of the LumaGEM® Molecular Breast Imaging system (MBI). 

CHICAGO, December 2, 2013 – Ikonopedia, today announced the launch of the SonoPro™ Breast Ultrasound interpretation and reporting module, designed to guide radiologists through the interpretive process for diagnostic breast ultrasound exams.  Ikonopedia, or image encyclopedia, made the announcement here at the 99th Annual Meeting of the Radiology Society of North America (RSNA), December 1-6, 2013 (RSNA Booth 1507 – South Hall).

Kortrijk, Belgium, 2 December 2013 – Healthcare imaging specialist Barco announces the launch of a new high-bright diagnostic color display system: Nio Color 2MP LED. Featuring LED backlights and a unique front-of-screen sensor for on-demand image quality checks, the 2MP color diagnostic display provides an effective solution for a multitude of applications and modalities. 

MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 2, 2013-- Vital Images, Inc., a Toshiba Medical Systems Group Company and leading provider of advanced visualization and analysis solutions for healthcare providers, will feature new clinical enhancements to its VitreaAdvanced® software in its booth (North Hall, #8130) at the 99th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago, December 1-5.

In 2004, as Hurricane Charley closed in on Florida, the CIO of Walmart, Linda Dillman, wondered which items the store should be stocking up on in advance of the storm. Employees suggested flashlights and batteries. Dillman had another idea: diving into terabytes of data on past shopping behaviors, she discovered that ahead of hurricanes, the two most-purchased items at Walmart stores were beer and strawberry Pop-Tarts. Walmart stores in Florida increased their inventories of these items, and by the time the hurricane passed over, the company had made a killing.

As accountable-care organizations (ACOs) take root around the country, radiology, as predicted by many, is proving to be a troublesome link in the care chain. Jordan Halter, vice president of solutions for Virtual Radiologic (vRad), says, “Radiology risks being seen as a cost center, to be managed, in the ACO model. Radiology must fundamentally and permanently alter itself to survive in the new fee-for-value health-care world. It’s no longer good enough to be available and affable; groups need to be accountable, affordable, and aligned with their hospitals, as Alan Matsumoto, MD, and the ACR® Council Steering Committee pointed out earlier this year. Radiology needs to be seen as a strategic partner with a seat at the leadership table, not as a cost center.”

On June 6, 2013, at the annual meeting of the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (in Dallas, Texas), Eliot Siegel, MD, chief of radiology and nuclear imaging at VA Maryland Health Care System (Baltimore), copresented “Personalized Medicine.” He envisions a promising future for radiology—if the profession can surmount the obstacles that it faces, when it comes to big data. “Medicine in general is behind the curve on big data,” Siegel says, “and we have the chance to get radiology ready for the coming era of big data and personalized medicine, if we can address five key challenges.”