Six years ago, the non-invasive cardiovascular lab (NICL) at 540-bed St. Dominic Hospital in Jackson, Mississippi, faced something of an uncertain future. The rules for maintaining accreditation, set by intersocietal accreditation commissions, require that all vascular exams get interpreted within 48 hours of image acquisition. For cardiac exams, the read must wait no longer than 24 hours.

The cost of healthcare, especially advanced imaging studies, has been under scrutiny for several years now, leading to countless discussions about what is and is not essential to patient care. In a new commentary published by Academic Radiology, the author argues that image reinterpretation by a subspecialist radiologist can provide significant value and should not be viewed as wasteful or unnecessary.

Chinese researchers announced this week that, using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), they have been able to identify abnormal connections between brain networks in preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 

American College of Radiology (ACR) CEO William T. Thorwarth Jr., MD, recently penned a letter to Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, R-Louisiana, outlining how recent policies implemented by Anthem negatively impact patient access to advanced imaging provided in hospital outpatient departments.

The variables involved in minimizing radiation exposure during CT imaging are many—but simply placing a patient off-center can result in a surface dose increase of 12 to 49 percent and negatively impact image quality.

Patient and public awareness of interventional radiology (IR) remains low, according to a study published in the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology.

Two top executives from the largest nonprofit health system in the U.S. emphasized that developing new leaders isn’t the responsibility of the human resources department, but a system-wide necessity in their presentation at the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) Congress in Chicago.

An election year usually means little movement in Congress on major policies. That’s especially true for hot-button issues in healthcare, according to Tom Nickels, the American Hospital Association’s executive vice president of government relations, meaning major reforms may have to wait until after the midterm election—or perhaps after the next presidential race.