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.

Health Care Spending Slows, Takes Record Bite From GDP

The recession put the squeeze on U.S. health care spending in 2009, but health care expenditures also took a bigger, record-setting bite out of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to a report released earlier this week by CMS.

Dell to Acquire Image Archiving Pioneer InSite One

Dell raised its bid for the management of health care data with the announcement last week of its intention to acquire cloud-based image archiving services provider InSite One, Inc for an undisclosed amount.

RadNet Enters Teleradiology Arena with Imaging On Call Acquisition

In a move that marks its entry into the teleradiology sector, outpatient diagnostic imaging services provider RadNet earlier this week reported it has executed a definitive agreement to acquire Poughkeepsie, NY-based teleradiology provider Imaging On Call, LLC for $5.5 million, plus up to $2.5 million in contingent compensation if the latter

Self-referral Linked to Rising Medicare Expenditures

Several recent reports indicate that physicians engaging in self-referral for radiation oncology and diagnostic imaging services is playing a role in escalating Medicare costs.

Business 101: Communication and Information Sharing in Radiology

MMP

This article is the final installment in a four-part series on applying basic business concepts to radiology. To read the first installment, click here; to read the second, click here; to read the third, click here.

NLST Proves Lives Can Be Saved: Now Comes the Difficult Step of Implementation

One of the most extensive and ambitious medical-screening trials in US has been stopped. It’s because of good news: Low-dose helical CT (LDCT) exams can cut lung-cancer deaths by as much as 20%, compared with chest radiography alone, according to early results from the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST). The NLST was halted in early November,

Interpreting From Multiple Facilities: The Case for a PACS-driven Workflow

Sponsored by FUJIFILM Healthcare Americas

For the first five years of its existence, Tower Saint John’s Imaging, a full-service outpatient imaging center in Santa Monica, California, that is a joint venture between Saint John’s Health Center and Tower Imaging Medical Group, used its own RIS, PACS, and speech-recognition products separate from those of Saint John’s Health Center. The same

Reimbursement Outlook for 2011: Trouble on the Way

Radisphere

On November 30, the Physician Payment and Therapy Relief Act of 2010 was signed into law, delaying the 23% Medicare physician-payment cut mandated by the sustainable growth rate formula. The legislation replaced the cut with a 2.2% update through December 31, with the intention of giving Congress time to find a more permanent solution. On December