The diagnostic-imaging industry continues to face significant reimbursement headwinds as a result of recent Medicare reimbursement cuts. Industry-specific cuts recently enacted include the Multiple Procedure Payment Reduction (MPPR), which was introduced in the 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) and expanded in the 2013 MPFS, and the increased equipment-utilization rate (used to calculate Medicare reimbursement) contained in the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA), passed in January 2013.

One of the most emotionally loaded conversations in imaging is that concerning efficiency and productivity. In recent years, these considerations have become increasingly vital to groups’ survival, according to Chad Calendine, MD, CMO of Optimal Radiology Partners and President of Premier Radiology (Nashville, Tennessee). “As peoples’ incomes began to decrease with decreasing reimbursement, they became more focused on how to regain that lost income, and the way to do that is through additional efficiencies and productivity,” he says. “It’s an emotional issue because it strikes to the heart of whether you are a good radiologist and a good partner. Are you pulling your weight?”

In his Time magazine cover story, “Bitter Pill,” journalist Steven Brill dives into line-by-line analyses of patients’ hospital bills, breaking down exactly what they paid for which services. Even as a seven-year veteran of writing about our corner of the economy, I was appalled by what I read. To take a couple of examples at random, one patient

Massachusetts and Hawaii are the latest states to have introduced bills in their respective legislatures to mandate informing mammography patients about breast density

Philips Healthcare has made an additional donation of nearly $9,000 to help the ASRT Foundation support members who volunteer in under-served communities and provide quality medical imaging and radiation therapy services for populations in need

Got an idea for how to accomplish the enormous job of speeding the nation-wide adoption of electronic health records that actually can share data (interoperability) without spending any extra money? Health and Human Services (HHS) is all ears

Radiologist efficiency has increased by leaps and bounds in the digital era, but reimbursement trends have kept steady the pressure to improve productivity further. A handful of emerging tools for the practice potentially could make already-productive physicians even more efficient, according to Bill Pickart, CEO of Integrated Medical Partners (IMP); Pickart says, however, that these tools will represent a cultural shift that will need to be managed skillfully for maximum effectiveness.

Influenced by emerging technology and regulatory changes, the role of the radiology-group CIO has undergone a dramatic shift in recent years: Wayne Davidson, CIO of Quantum Imaging & Therapeutic Associates, Inc (Lewisberry, Pennsylvania), a 40-radiologist practice, says, “In recent years, the focus has really become efficiency because of background factors like declining reimbursement. That drives the business to try to do more with less, and that goal is laid on the shoulders of the IT department.