As accountable care organizations and other forms of integrated delivery networks take root nationwide, independent radiology practices are experiencing a phenomenon not regularly seen since the 1990s: capitated contracts. “The biggest change our group has seen recently is the rise in capitated contracts, where we receive a fixed reimbursement for providing imaging for a whole patient population,” says Whitney Edmister, MD, PhD, of Desert Radiologists, a 54-physician practice based in Las Vegas, Nevada. “We receive a monthly payment to provide all necessary imaging services, allowing health plans to better control their costs.”

UnityPoint Health, formerly Iowa Healthcare, a multi-city integrated delivery system based in Des Moines, recently underwent a transformation aimed at empowering primary care physicians to take the lead in care coordination for patients.

As health care moves from fee-for-service to value-based medicine, and, eventually, to population health management, imaging is facing the imperative to redefine its role in the care continuum. “We’ll be focused closely on value and outcome measures in the environment we’re calling imaging 3.0,” says Mike Tilkin, CIO of the American College of Radiology (ACR). “Radiologists will play pivotal roles throughout the care process—from the time a study is ordered to being engaged as a consultant throughout the care cycle to being a resource to the patient.”

Breast imaging manufacturer Hologic adopted a poison pill plan after billionaire activist investor Carl Ichan, 77, announced that he had acquired a nearly 13% stake in the company

After learning to live without Sutter Health since 2010, Radiological Associates of Sacramento (RAS) will join once again with the Northern California-based health network

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has announced a draft research plan for updating its 2009 breast cancer screening recommendations and is seeking public comment on that plan

Five Congressional representatives are asking CMS to not implement a proposed rule change that would allow hospitals to deviate from manufacturer maintenance recommendations for medical equipment

The ACR has asked CMS to revise an online recommendation posted November 6 that tells providers to code the procedure using full-field mammography codes