Policy & Regulations

This channel includes news coverage of healthcare policy and regulations set by Congress, the states, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and medical associations and societies.

Radiologists and other docs express growing frustration with Merit-based Incentive Payment System
Over 30 medical societies including the American College of Radiology recently wrote to CMS Administrator Mehmet C. Oz, MD, MBA, to voice their concerns.
12 charged in Florida as part of ‘Operation Nightingale’ sting on low-quality nursing schools
The defendants include operators and staff at nursing schools that were shut down over accusations they provided pay-for-play degrees that RNs and LPNs used to obtain licenses.
ACR changing its accreditation process in response to corporate consolidation
CEO Dana Smetherman, MD, MPH, MBA, explains how the consolidation of radiology practices has shifted how the college thinks about its processes.
FDA highlights risks of evaluating blood pressure with unauthorized medical devices
The agency emphasized that many over-the-counter technologies marketed for this purpose have not been properly evaluated.
Healthcare AI today: Another angle on AI regulation, move fast but don’t break things, WISeR in the real world, more
Getting healthcare AI to fulfill its destiny—can we call it that now?—will require ‘scenario-based’ consideration of every use case.

FDA issues new guidance on how mammography facilities can contest adverse appeals decisions

Its announcement comes on the same day that the FDA was set to resume regular imaging site inspections that have been on hold during the pandemic.

Radiology providers want 1% Medicare pay hike to cover COVID supplies, federal loans for imaging upgrades

Radiologists and rad techs have been hit hard by the pandemic and need help in maintaining their arsenal of diagnostic tools, the American College of Radiology, Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, and others wrote recently.

Hospitals, nurses and docs urge Senate leaders to earmark funds for disparities in COVID care

CEOs with the American Hospital Association, American Medical Association and American Nurses Association underscored the pandemic’s outsized impact on people of color in a letter to lawmakers sent Friday.

State watch: Rad techs slam ‘inequitable’ Louisiana tax law; Missouri, Pennsylvania boost breast imaging coverage

The American Society of Radiologic Technologists criticized the new policy for failing to include its members along with radiation therapists.

Imaging manufacturer will pay $18M to settle federal investigation, plus more radiology vendor news

Also, Insightec earns Medicare coverage for MR-guided treatment, a new AI tool to assist with COVID imaging, and Xact Robotics earns FDA clearance to market new product.

American College of Radiology selects new Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute chief

Elizabeth Rula, PhD, will replace Executive Director Danny Hughes, PhD, who has led the institute since its inception in 2012.

HHS allocates over $4B in relief to hospitals hit hard by the pandemic

One billion of the total will go toward specialty rural hospitals, urban hospitals with certain rural Medicare designations and providers in small metropolitan areas, the administration announced recently.

ACR: Congress should include delay of ‘controversial’ USPSTF breast cancer screening in final funding bill

Draft legislation recently passed by a House subcommittee ensures the recommendations would be pushed back until 2025.

Policy & Regulations

Radiologists and other docs express growing frustration with Merit-based Incentive Payment System

12 charged in Florida as part of ‘Operation Nightingale’ sting on low-quality nursing schools

ACR changing its accreditation process in response to corporate consolidation

FDA highlights risks of evaluating blood pressure with unauthorized medical devices

Healthcare AI today: Another angle on AI regulation, move fast but don’t break things, WISeR in the real world, more