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

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.

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

Controlling overutilization of medical services — particularly costly services such as medical imaging — is something everyone seems to agree on but no one seems able to do under the fee-for-service system.

Patients experience more waiting room stress than you may think. A new study in Radiology on patient stress levels in the waiting room has implications for diagnostic radiology executives.

The recent controversy surrounding mammography may die down somewhat with the release, in the July 2011 issue of Radiology, of a three-decade-long study in Sweden demonstrating that death from breast cancer is prevented in every 414 to 519 women who undergo the procedure. Previous studies had pegged this figure at 1,000 to 1,500 women.

Heralding its move into the market for equipment optimized for breast screening, Philips Healthcare has inked an agreement with Sectra AB to acquire the vast majority of the latter’s Mamea AB low-dose mammography division for 57.5 million euros ($82 million U.S.) in cash upfront, plus an additional 1 million euros ($18 million) pending the

Spiraling healthcare costs make the immediate implementation of accountable care organizations (ACOs) a must, according to Mark McClellan, MD, former Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).