When the hospital is the buying party in an imaging joint venture, there are four potential issues that could terminate the transaction, all of which stem from due diligence. These issues include one or both parties failing to understand the distinction between fair market value and strategic value, conflicts surrounding how professional payments are determined after the transaction, collection irregularities or other problems with revenue recognition, and management and governance issues for the newly joint-ventured or acquired imaging center. All four of these transaction deal-breakers, however, can be avoided through understanding, preparation, commitment to communication, and setting expectations.

Here’s a confession: Though a bit of a snob about most of what’s on television these days, I’m obsessed with AMC’s “Mad Men.” I’ve watched every episode more than once, analyzing each for hidden meanings and recurring themes; I even read recaps online in case there’s anything I missed. An oft-repeated truism on the show, trotted out when its ad executives are dealing with clients in difficult situations, is: If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation. I wonder, sometimes, what the creative geniuses of the fictional ad agencies of “Mad Men” would make of imaging’s biggest current problem.

Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) in Bergen County, NJ, and Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor, Maine, won for their excellence on multiple levels and superior patient care

An American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) official spoke in favor of appropriate use criteria to reduce inappropriate cardiac imaging in his testimony to the U.S. House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee

Rather than a “reboot” of the meaningful use incentive program — as six Republican Senators asked for last month — the program just needs more time, say executives at the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives

San Diego-based Visage Imaging Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Pro Medicus Ltd. ,has signed a five-year agreement with vRad to implement the Visage 7 Enterprise Imaging Platform

New screening recommendations from the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) recommend offering low-dose CT chest imaging as a lung cancer screening test in patients at high risk of lung cancer

The annual Medscape Physician Compensation Report puts the average radiologist's income at $349K, but the rate of compensation increase &mdash a tiny 1% from 2011 — is near the bottom for medical specialties