Marcus J. Hampers, MD, MBA, is on the clinical staff in the emergency department of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, N.H., and also on the teaching staff at the affiliated Geisel School of Medicine, but he is not practicing much emergency medicine these days. Instead, he is leading the rollout of a network of 10 urgent care centers in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, two of which opened in June, with two more scheduled to open this month.

The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) recently announced that healthcare spending costs rose 9.9 percent in the first quarter of 2014, which was the largest quarterly increase in more than 30 years. The continued rise in healthcare spending costs has a direct effect on the entire United States population, but most directly effects consumers via overall higher healthcare costs including higher insurance premiums. 

In an environment where radiologists are consistently being asked to do more with less, a simple increase in production is no longer a viable remedy to a problem. Practice managers and physician owners need to work smarter, instead of just harder. Using business intelligence data for predictive analytics, they are beginning to run their practices more efficiently, but also more effectively, challenging the status quo and using data to affect change. 

According to the results of a survey published today by global analytics company Towers Watson, more U.S. companies plan to increase the use of telemedicine to lower healthcare spending costs in 2015. Telemedicine has the potential to deliver more than $6 billion in healthcare savings per year to U.S. companies, according to the report.

Cerner Corporation has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Siemens Health Services, the health information technology business unit of Siemens AG, for $1.3 billion in cash.

Mecklenburg Radiology Associates (MRA), is a key imaging services provider for Novant Health, a multi-state hospital system that primarily serves the mid-Atlantic region.

Erkan Akyuz was named president of McKesson Technology Solutions' Imaging & Workflow Solutions in May, 2014. Well known in imaging circles, Akyuz previously served as president and CEO of Vital Images, Inc, as well as executive vice president and chief technology officer at Agfa Healthcare. Akyuz brings extensive industry experience, strong leadership and a focus on customer success, and he is well prepared to further McKesson’s mission to break down information silos and improve the quality and cost effectiveness of care delivery. Health IT Executive Forum recently spoke with Akyuz about his perspectives on the current market, new opportunities and where he will take McKesson’s Imaging & Workflow Solutions division.

The fall season is commonly known as the time that people get "back on track". Healthcare is no exception. With the official ICD-10 transition deadline finally announced, radiology practices can get back to the business of preparing physicians and staff for the new coding implementation.