Economics

This channel highlights factors that impact hospital and healthcare economics and revenue. This includes news on healthcare policies, reimbursement, marketing, business plans, mergers and acquisitions, supply chain, salaries, staffing, and the implementation of a cost-effective environment for patients and providers.

RadNet records rare decrease in imaging procedural volumes
This marks the first time since the pandemic of 2020 that RadNet has seen a same-center decrease in imaging use.
Senators introduce bipartisan bill to revive shelved imaging appropriate-use criteria program
Sens. Marsha Blackburn and Catherine Cortez Masto are proposing the Radiology Outpatient Ordering Transmission (ROOT) Act, which would eliminate real-time reporting requirements in AUC.
Private equity firm Stonepeak closing in on $1.9B purchase of radiology network
The New York investment group, which also owns Akumin, is reportedly "inches" from acquiring Australia's largest diagnostic imaging provider.
UnitedHealth, Amedisys offer divestitures as $3.3B merger advances
Pennant and BrightSpring Health Services have agreed to purchase some healthcare businesses from UnitedHealth and Amedisys. However, it remains unclear whether this will be enough for the DOJ to drop its lawsuit blocking the merger.
Tariffs will have a significant impact on the nuclear imaging supply chain in the US
"Domestic radiopharmaceutical suppliers, who receive isotopes from abroad, would be impacted by price changes and uncertainty caused by additional tariffs,” SNMMI President Cathy Cutler, PhD, wrote in a letter to the U.S. Department of Commerce this week.

Michigan cardiologist pays US government $2M for ‘exploitative and improper' ordering practices

Dinesh M. Shah, MD, made the payment to resolve allegations that his practice billed the U.S. government for unnecessary diagnostic tests.

Breast cancer AI cleared for EU markets

The European Union has granted CE mark approval to a U.S.-based maker of AI software that aids radiologists in distinguishing between benign and malignant lesions on breast ultrasound images.

Strategic Radiology adds 30th member to growing coalition of independent practices

Founded in 1984, Delaney Radiology currently employs 28 fellowship-trained physicians, operating in the Wilmington, North Carolina, metropolitan area.

AI for CT angiography gets go-ahead

The FDA has greenlit an AI algorithm that automatically measures dilation in the heart’s right ventricle on CT images.

Is COVID-focused AI ready for legal scrutiny?

Affronts against privacy and equality—real, perceived or ginned up—may fuel lawsuits by patients whose COVID care incorporated AI.

CPT code blunders cost one radiology practice more than $20K per month, new analysis shows

Lags in education and coordination along the reporting chain, among other issues, contributed to the nearly 17-month delay in implementing accurate coding measures, Duke University experts reported.

Wrist-based early alert for COVID cleared for sale in Europe

An MIT spinoff based in Boston and Milan in Italy has earned CE certification for software that flags respiratory infection in wearers of the company’s smartwatch devices.

Nanox ramping up construction of fabrication plant amid increased demand for imaging system

The Israel-based startup is spending about $40 million on the facility, which it hopes to have up and running in the first quarter of 2022, officials said Wednesday.

Economics

RadNet records rare decrease in imaging procedural volumes

Senators introduce bipartisan bill to revive shelved imaging appropriate-use criteria program

Private equity firm Stonepeak closing in on $1.9B purchase of radiology network

UnitedHealth, Amedisys offer divestitures as $3.3B merger advances

Tariffs will have a significant impact on the nuclear imaging supply chain in the US