Reston, Va. (Jan. 18, 2014) – The American College of Radiology (ACR) has named William T. Thorwarth, Jr., M.D., FACR, chief executive officer (CEO), effective April 2014. A practicing diagnostic radiologist with Catawba Radiological Associates in Hickory, N.C., Thorwarth has previously served as ACR President, chair of the ACR Economics Commission, member of the ACR Board of Chancellors and most recently on the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Board of Directors. Thorwarth was also honored with the ACR Gold Medal in 2010.

Many feel that the EMR is central to the health of the enterprise and promises to meet many needs. However, as stakeholders drill down into individual departments, there are areas where the EMR may fail to address the specific workflow of the caregivers in those specialties.

Plymouth Township, Mich. - Jan. 7, 2014 - Delphinus Medical Technologies, Inc., innovator and developer of a new ultrasound platform that images the entire breast, has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the SoftVue™ whole breast ultrasound tomography system, approved for diagnostic breast imaging.

HOUSTON, Jan. 7, 2014 -- The Department of Pediatric Radiology at Texas Children's Hospital is excited to announce that Dr. Kamlesh U. Kukreja has been named the new chief of Interventional Radiology. Kukreja, whose appointment was effective Jan. 1, has also been appointed as Assistant Professor of radiology at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM). For more information about interventional radiology at Texas Children's visit texaschildrens.org.

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan. 8, 2014 -- Parkinson's disease is a neurological disorder that affects the central nervous system and currently afflicts over one million people in North America, and more than five million people worldwide, according to the Michael J. Fox Foundation. While medication can curb symptoms, one of the most heartbreaking aspects of Parkinson's disease is that medications often lose efficacy as the disease progresses.

Like many people, Chris Tirabassi has watched the political parties duke it out over the relative merits of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. As practice administrator for CNY Diagnostic Imaging Associates LLC (Liverpool, New York), however, he has little time for philosophical discussion. Instead, Tirabassi is knee-deep in the meaningful-use mandates of the HITECH Act, as they apply to CNY’s Syracuse-area private practice of six radiologists.

In dissecting stage 2 of the meaningful-use program, Alberto Goldszal, MBA, PhD, drolly summarizes the meaningful-use challenge for radiologists: “In the meaningful-use rules, you are going to see some specific examples of things that are changing the radiology workflow that are perceived as a contraindication for radiology efficiency,” he says. “Overall, it does improve patient care—at least, that is the intended goal.”

For Colorado Springs Radiologists/PENRAD Imaging (Colorado Springs, Colorado), state-of-the-art imaging equipment and IT solutions have long supported a mission to offer top-tier patient care while maintaining a high degree of efficiency overall. A recent move to support this mission by replacing its RIS and billing systems has led the practice to the brink of Stage 1 meaningful use Stage 1 attestation, slated to occur shortly after January 1, 2014.