No one is quite sure when the word draconian came to be the semiofficial modifier of the word cuts, when used in conjunction with the noun DRA. Mark Newton recalls hearing it often during the campaign to convince federal lawmakers that their Medicare cost-saving bill was a disaster in the making for radiology.

A rising tide lifts all boats, as the saying goes, and thanks to the hastening deployment of subspecialty teleradiology, some of the smallest imaging-department boats are riding high. This is good news for patients in rural areas, who can now stick with their local hospitals for their imaging needs. It’s good news for those hospitals, too, because

Last month, I discussed the need (and demand) for a culture and ethos of customer service within medical imaging practices, departments, and centers. Apparently hitting a bit of a nerve, I received some rather interesting responses that point out a significant disconnect between this ideal and the current reality, based on a certain anthropology

The US Navy deployed its first PACS—a military-specified system with limited functionality—in 1996. Since then, the Navy has operated multiple PACS from a variety of vendors, all selected through a contracting process monitored by the US Department of Defense (DoD). “Our purchasing process enables us always to select the best of breed,” Edwin Doorn

A disturbing trend is clearly visible in the marketplace: too many new imaging facilities are out-of-date by the time they are initially operational. Two key factors can make the best intentions go awry. First, despite the proliferation of PACS, very few health care facility planners have experience with building a new filmless facility once, let

Jeff Goldsmith predicts that, despite inevitable changes, the future of health care is more sound than many people believe. Goldsmith, president, Health Futures, Inc, Charlottesville, Va, and associate professor of public health sciences at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, presented A Look Over the Horizon at Beyond™, the Third Annual

The worst advanced visualization system in the world for a pediatric setting is one wherein the only way that referring physicians from across the organization can see 3D reconstructions of diagnostic images is by physically visiting a radiologist at his or her workstation.

“The more you see, the better you are,” Javier Beltran, MD, FACR, says. “You’re exposed to so much pathology that you’ve seen it all, at the end of the day. It brings your expertise to another level.” Beltran is talking about what might be called extreme subspecialization. Beltran is a musculoskeletal radiologist. He estimates that he personally