As 2014 winds to a close, three of radiology's brightest thought leaders offer predictions on the year ahead. There is big power in big data. Moving forward into 2015 and beyond, how do radiology practices aggregate data in a way that creates what the world of Silicon Valley has shown us to be the new paradigm? Curtis Kauffman-Pickelle, president and CEO of The Kauffman Group and publisher of ImagingBiz, asks that very question when asked to look ahead.

Hybrid imaging with positron emission tomography and computed tomography (PET/CT) in the pituitary region of the brain is a promising tool for differentiating military veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from those with mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), according to a new study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

According to Hermann Requardt, CEO of Siemens Healthcare at a briefing during the 100th Annual Meeting of the RSNA, "Healthcare is showing signs not of instability, but of transition. The US is feeling frustrated, according to health economists, that we don't get enough value from every dollar spent on healthcare in this country, compared with other countries that are spending less."

In the opening session of the 100th Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), current president, N. Reed Dunnick, MD presented Theodore S. Lawrence, MD. PhD., with the Outstanding Researcher Award, recognizing his significant contributions and long-term commitment to radiological research.

Whether you’re using a pocket-guide to keep track of activities, or keeping your RSNA schedule online, the 100th Annual Meeting of the RSNA is just a turkey away, so it’s time to dig in and finalize your plans. As far as what you might expect to see and hear at RSNA this year, ImagingBiz and radiologybusiness.com will keep you up to date with the latest news and information online. So whether you’ll be in Chicago or monitoring the meeting from home, you can get everything right here. This issue of ImagingBiz brings you information on what will surely be some of the hot topics of this year’s meeting.

The flawed Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula is a dark cloud of uncertainty that annually hangs over healthcare practitioners, threatening to trigger the government-mandated double digit cut in reimbursement rates for Medicare beneficiaries. When the temporary SGR patch was extended in April 2014 (for the 17th time), it was the inclusion of the ICD-10 delay that took healthcare by surprise and overshadowed other provisions of the Act. While the ICD-10 delay certainly warrants the attention of healthcare providers, there are other provisions included in the Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) of 2014 that deserve equal attention so that clinicians can prepare for the impending changes.

Last summer brought something of a media moment for mammography in the U.S. The spotlight shone on the star—3-D imaging for breast-cancer screening—after the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study showing that tomosynthesis, when added to digital mammography, is a natural at catching invasive cancers while exposing false positives as impostors.

Tomosynthesis is a relatively new type of imaging technology that utilizes x-rays to create a 3-dimensional image of the breast and is mainly used to detect and diagnose cancers. Not yet considered the standard in clinical care, most imaging centers still employ conventional digital mammograms as their primary method of detecting breast cancer. Conventional mammograms take x-rays of the breast from different angles to create cross-sectional 2-dimensional images. Imaging centers must decide if replacing existing conventional mammography systems with tomosynthesis makes sense from a clinical and financial perspective. What are some factors that drive this decision making process? Will adding this technology to your imaging center create value for shareholders?