Business Intelligence

Providers utilize business intelligence to monitor referral patterns and collaborate with clinicians who order their services. Such analytics tools have also been deployed in the specialty to improve productivity, track patient satisfaction and bolster quality.

Private equity unlikely to dominate cardiology despite hype
Medaxiom CEO Jerry Blackwell, MD, MBA, FACC, discusses investor's interest in buying cardiology practices, noting that PE ownership remains relatively low.
OIG warns of ‘ghost network’ trouble in maternal health managed care
Looking at the three largest Medicaid managed care plans related to maternal health, the Office of Inspector General found instances of ineligible providers being included in directories, as well as other errors such as incorrect contact information.
OhioHealth agrees to void contracts that allegedly punished payers for including competitors in-network
The U.S. Department of Justice said the settlement will save citizens of the state money and open up the market to competition.
Major private payer encouraging employees to leave willingly
The largest Medicaid-specialized managed care organization in the U.S. is offering buyout packages to most of its 60,000 or so staff workers.
‘Epic’ trademark lawsuit leaves healthcare staffing firm without a name
Epic Systems, the market leading EHR vendor, sued California-based Epic Staffing in 2024, arguing that the company’s name created confusion in the market. The lawsuit was settled out of court, with the employment firm agreeing to a full rebrand.

Functional MRI clarifies effects of vaping vs. smoking inside the lungs

Cigarette smoke inhibits pulmonary perfusion while nicotine-delivering vapors from e-cigarettes do the opposite, actually increasing blood flow in the lungs.

Ultrasound novices quickly master ‘volume sweep’ breast imaging

In a recent trial, medical students who were trained for two hours or less in an ultrasound “volume sweep” imaging (VSI) protocol obtained diagnostic-quality imaging of palpable breast lesions.

Mobile X-ray Leaps into the Future with New Innovations from Konica Minolta Healthcare

Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas, Inc. announced today that the company’s revolutionary Dynamic Digital Radiography (DDR) technology, enabling the visualization of anatomy in motion, will be available on the mKDR Xpress™ Mobile X-ray System.

CT contrast shortage seen as amplification, continuation of deep-set dynamics

The shortage of iodinated contrast media that has rattled U.S. radiology since early May didn’t come from nowhere.

The GE healthcare vScan Air was one of several point of care ultrasound (POCUS) systems on display at the ACC 2022 meeting.

Scholarly POCUS judges impressed by handheld models from GE, Philips, EchoNous

Two dozen academic physicians from around the U.S. with expertise in point-of-care ultrasound—and no vested interest in POCUS industry players—recently tested and compared four commercially available POCUS handhelds.

Lightweight, short-stature MR scanner cleared

The FDA has greenlit a whole-body MRI machine that uses deep learning and advanced image processing to wring “elevated image quality” from a magnet with only 0.55 Tesla field strength.

Another mammography team in hot water over image quality

The FDA is notifying patients and referrers of another breast-imaging service’s slide into noncompliance with regulatory standards for image quality.

POCUS access: Urban oases, rural deserts

Fewer than 40% of rural counties in the U.S. can offer residents any access to point-of-care ultrasound, while nearly 90% of their metropolitan counterparts have POCUS aplenty.

Business Intelligence

Private equity unlikely to dominate cardiology despite hype

OIG warns of ‘ghost network’ trouble in maternal health managed care

OhioHealth agrees to void contracts that allegedly punished payers for including competitors in-network

Major private payer encouraging employees to leave willingly

‘Epic’ trademark lawsuit leaves healthcare staffing firm without a name