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.

Reform Needed In Medical Technology Sector, Report Indicates

Spiraling healthcare expenditures paralleled by increasing health care costs and premium rates of medical care are creating a real and urgent need for reform in the medical technology sector worldwide, indicates a new report from research firm Frost & Sullivan.

Task Force to Deliver Health IT Alignment Strategies

Recommendations for aligning current health IT efforts to best use scarce public and private resources in support of new care delivery models that will improve quality of care will be released later this year by the recently formed Task Force on Delivery System Reform and Health IT. An offshoot of the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) Health Project,

ACR Revises Guidelines For Radiation Therapy Following Squamous Cell Carcinoma Resection

The American College of Radiology (ACR) has revised its appropriateness criteria for the use of radiation therapy following surgical resection of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. The revised guidelines appear in the July issue of Oral Oncology.

Cuts In Proposed CMS Rule Will Drive Radiologists From Practice, ACR Says

Coupled with drastic cuts to imaging services over the past five years, significant and unwarranted medical imaging cuts in the Proposed Medicare Fee Schedule Rule for 2012 formulated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will drive many imaging providers from practice, restrict access to care even for procedures not specifically

CareCore National, UAW Launch RBM Pilot

CareCore National, the nation’s largest specialty benefits manager, has announced it is partnering with the United Auto Workers (UAW) Retiree Medical Benefits Trust to administer a radiology benefits management solution, on a pilot basis, for a 30,000-member subset of the latter's more than 840,000 retired UAW members, including their dependents.

Americans Mistrustful of Government's Ability to Support Medicare, Poll Shows

Health care may rank a distant second to the economy and jobs when it comes to issues on which voters would like lawmakers and Presidential candidates to focus, but Americans generally are not confident that Congress and private insurers can keep Medicare financially sound

Study Shows Disparity In Imaging Costs

The old adage “location, location, location”—meaning location is everything—doesn’t apply to health care expenditures. A new study indicates regional disparities in the cost of certain procedures, with patients paying up to 683% more for the same procedures, in the same town, depending on the provider that administered them.

Imaging Cuts Removed From Free Trade Agreement Act

Provisions for imaging cuts stipulated in the pending United States-South Korea Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act were removed late yesterday by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. The provisions would have increased the required equipment utilization rate for advanced diagnostic imaging equipment services, or the rate at which Medicare