As the new Congress begins a shift toward a more domestic policy-dominated agenda, health care issues are expected to receive substantial attention. While there was hope during the last quarter of 2006 that a bill proposed in the House (HR 5704) as well as one proposed in the Senate (S. 3795) would result in a moratorium on the DRA reimbursement

In light of the Deficit Reduction Act, which went into effect in this month, many imaging practices and physician offices that provide diagnostic imaging services, are looking for ways to reduce their operating costs. Some practices are looking at reducing staff; while others are evaluating every line item of their operating budgets. One line item

Drastic reimbursement reductions for MR and CT in the freestanding setting have made joint ventures with referring physicians more attractive than ever, writes Jerry J. Sokol, JD, and Joshua M. Kaye, JD, health care attorneys with McDermott Will & Emery, in an article in the January issue of Imaging Economics.

With the new calendar year comes the annual opportunity to make our New Year’s resolutions. While these generally tend to be personal pledges for self-improvement such as going to the health club more, getting more organized, or eating better, why not use the fresh year to make some organizational pledges? Here are a few we feel will be essential

Twenty plus years ago, as imaging gradually began its trek away from hospital environs, outpatient services rarely included a market effort. Today, outpatient imaging marketing is more than a rapid-report cannon fire in the war of what’s new. It boasts brand, distinction, top-of-mind awareness, and positioning. Back then, if there was a marketing

One can no longer sugarcoat or deny the fact that radiology is a profession under siege. Many of those that I met with this past year across the country were scrambling simply to make sense out of the DRA cuts and in the process find ways to offset the financial hit. Most were a little stunned but held out hope that our industry representation in

Physicians received yet another reprieve when the Senate's final act before adjourning was to pass a broad tax and trade bill, 79-to-9, that contained the hope-for fix of the scheduled 5.1 percent cut in physician reimbursement.

Last month we presented a case for proactively training external emergency response personnel in magnet safety, and this month, in Part II, we outline how to develop such an education program for your community. The objectives of your program should be to: