December 31, 2008 New Medicare fee schedule raises rates, limits reforms By James Brice Medicare's outpatient imaging program has issued a New Year's greeting in the form of rules in the 2009 Physician Fee Schedule that raise professional reimbursement rates, expand the discount for contiguous body part imaging to more applications, and introduce anti-markup rules that are far less harsh than those originally proposed. A 1.1% across-the-board professional rate increase kicks in on Jan. 1. The…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 31, 2008 at 12:30pm —
No Comments
December 30, 2008 Gymnastic complaints extend beyond common growth plate injuries By Christiana Schmitz Adolescent gymnasts are developing a wider variety of arm, wrist, and hand injuries than previously described in gymnast-related medical literature. Of the 125 patients evaluated in a study presented at the 2008 RSNA meeting, researchers isolated the MRIs of 12 gymnasts aged 12 to 16. The images revealed a pattern of injury that spanned far beyond the growth plate injuries commonly associated…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 30, 2008 at 12:30pm —
No Comments
December 29, 2008 Welcome to a Better way YOU CAN RUN A HAPPIER, MORE EFFECTIVE OFFICE. LET’S GET STARTED. By Pamela L. Moore Pamela L. Moore is the editorial director of Physicians Practice. She can be reached at pmoore@physicianspractice.com. Do you want to be satisfied with your practice and work life? Of course you do. But many physicians, sadly, are not as happy with their professional lives as they have a right to be. For instance, when Merritt Hawkins, a physician-recruiting firm, last…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 29, 2008 at 1:00pm —
No Comments
December 29, 2008 CT use alone fails to increase costs of hospital stay By Rebekah Moan Increased use of CT to image pneumonia is unlikely to be the sole cause of increased hospital costs for pneumonia patients, according to a study from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. In the study, presented at the 2008 RSNA meeting, Michael Lu, Ph.D., a research fellow at Brigham and Women's, and colleagues retrospectively examined 1064 patients with a primary diagnosis of pneumonia from 1999 to 2006.…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 29, 2008 at 12:30pm —
No Comments
December 24, 2008 Radiation dose awareness leads to more pediatric referrals for ultrasound and MRI By H.A. Abella Efforts to raise awareness about the associated risks of CT-based radiation exposure and the need to keep children from receiving unnecessary scans seem to be achieving traction among healthcare providers, according to a study by Ohio researchers. Their findings suggest that such increased awareness may make referring physicians less likely to order imaging that involves ionizing…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 24, 2008 at 1:00pm —
No Comments
December 23, 2008 Women at high risk for breast cancer benefit from both mammography, MRI By Rebekah Moan Alternating MRI with mammography every six months picks up breast cancers not identified by mammography alone for women at high risk, according to research out of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Dr. Huong Le-Petross, an assistant professor of radiology at M.D. Anderson, and colleagues presented the findings of their retrospective chart review at the 31st…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 23, 2008 at 1:00pm —
No Comments
December 22, 2008 Europe faces further Mo-99 supply woes By Paula Gould The production of molybdenum-99 at the High Flux Reactor in Petten, the Netherlands, is unlikely to restart in February 2009 as had been planned, according to the facility's operators, the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group. The HFR, one of two main sources of Mo-99 in Europe, has been out of action since mid-August when gas bubbles were found escaping into the reactor's cooling system. The cause of the leak was…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 22, 2008 at 1:00pm —
No Comments
December 19, 2008 Incidental finding on MRI points to multiple sclerosis Based on a news release from the journal Neurology An incidental finding of multiple sclerosis-type lesions during brain MRI is no fluke. A new study has found that some patients develop the physical symptoms of the disease within five years of the abnormalities' discovery on MRI. The study, published in the Dec. 10 online issue of Neurology, involved 44 people who had brain scans for various reasons, such as migraine…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 19, 2008 at 3:00pm —
No Comments
December 18, 2008 Desmoteplase trial disappoints despite novel use of imaging Coverage based on a press release from Lancet Neurology Despite encouraging earlier results, the much-awaited follow-up phase III DIAS-2 trial did not show any improvement in clinical response at 90 days for ischemic stroke patients who were given either of two doses of desmoteplase up to nine hours after the onset of symptoms of stroke compared with those who were given placebo. The clot-busting drug tissue…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 18, 2008 at 3:00pm —
No Comments
December 17, 2008 Prudent gadolinium contrast use halts NSF By James Brice Simple strategies, based on past experience with contrast-enhanced MRI for patients with compromised renal function, have helped radiologists and allied physicians bring the incidence of nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, a rare but deadly skin disorder, under control. NSF is strongly associated with gadolinium-based MRI agents administered to kidney disease patients. Symptoms, including a swelling and tightening of the…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 17, 2008 at 3:00pm —
No Comments
December 15, 2008 Sonoelastography breaks new ground in musculoskeletal imaging By H.A. Abella Researchers from Austria, Italy, and Egypt are taking a leap of faith to evaluate several possible ultrasound elastography applications in musculoskeletal radiology. Everyone from weekend warriors to elite athletes may benefit if the test is proven effective, according to papers released at the 2008 RSNA meeting. Musculoskeletal radiologists seem keen on moving toward more quantitative, functional…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 15, 2008 at 3:30pm —
No Comments
December 15, 2008 3D imaging technique measures brain behavior during normal human activities By Rebekah Moan University of California, San Diego scientists are developing a new imaging modality that will study the body/brain dynamics of humans engaged in normal activity. The Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience at UCSD is creating the concurrent brain and body imaging modality MoBI (Mobile Brain/Body Imaging) under a four-year, $3.4 million research grant from the U.S. Navy Office of…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 15, 2008 at 3:00pm —
No Comments
December 12, 2008 Up and Running BY ROBERT ANTHONY Robert Anthony, a former associate editor for Physicians Practice, has written for the healthcare and practice management industries for six years. His work has appeared in Physicians Practice, edge, Humana's Your Practice, and Publisher's Weekly. He is based in Baltimore, Md. He can be reached via editor@physicianspractice.com. HOW TO KEEP YOUR RADIOLOGY EQUIPMENT IN SHAPE Whether it's as portable as a mobile PET scanner or as massive (and…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 12, 2008 at 3:30pm —
No Comments
December 12, 2008 Ultrasound unveils source of stump pain in amputees By H.A. Abella High-resolution sonography can accurately detect the causes of residual limb pain in amputees, according to British researchers, who found that ultrasound can guide proper treatment and rehabilitation, help educate patients about their condition, and even help with design and fitting of prostheses. Stump pain impairs function and mobility and may seriously undermine an amputee's quality of life. Finding the…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 12, 2008 at 3:30pm —
No Comments
December 12, 2008 Is better care a JPG away? By Greg Freiherr Cruising one of the vendor booths at the RSNA meeting, my eye skipped from the exhibit in front of me to the paper tablet cradled in the arm of the media handler who accompanied me. There, nestled in a matrix of times, contacts, and booth locations, was my picture. Beside it appeared my title and the day and time I was to show up. It was meant, of course, to allow this handler and the others who would follow to greet me with…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 12, 2008 at 3:30pm —
No Comments
December 12, 2008 Call Coverage: 6 Strategies for Thriving in Challenging Times M. M. Robb is a science writer who specializes in radiology. He resides in suburban Washington, D.C. and can be reached via editor@physicianspractice.com. Mark Glass-Royal, a radiologist in suburban Washington, D.C., and Jerry Fosselman, COO of a 63-physician imaging practice in Sacramento, Calif., work on opposite coasts, but agree on one point: Radiology has never faced more challenging times. At issue isn't just…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 12, 2008 at 3:30pm —
No Comments
December 11, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. Radiologists, gastroenterologists disagree about need to remove small colon polyps By H.A. Abella Recommendations from an Oregon Health and Science Center study have clashed with the findings from a University of Wisconsin trial on the value of polypectomy for small polyps identified during CT colonography. The Oregon study calls for immediate resection while the Wisconsin trial concludes that removal would be costly, risky, and, by definition, unnecessary.…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 11, 2008 at 7:30pm —
No Comments
December 10, 2008 Swedish study finds higher renal failure rate for Visipaque than Hexabrix By James Brice With the introduction of iso-osmolar contrast media, radiologists looked forward to the day when severe adverse reactions to x-ray contrast would be eliminated. That day has yet to come, at least as far as the long-term effects of such agents, according to a large retrospective Swedish study. That research identified a significantly higher rate of renal failure among patients administered…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 10, 2008 at 7:30pm —
No Comments
December 8, 2008 PET’s impact on intended management shows consistency across indications By H.A. Abella Results from PET scans can influence the management of cancer patients regardless of their cancer type or the reason for ordering the exam, according to the latest update from the National Oncologic PET Registry. Preliminary results published by the NOPR in March in the Journal of Clinical Oncology indicated that FDG-PET led referring physicians to alter their intended clinical management…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 8, 2008 at 7:30pm —
No Comments
December 7, 2008 DiagnosticImaging.com. Radiation dose awareness leads to more pediatric referrals for ultrasound and MRI By H.A. Abella Educational efforts to raise awareness about the associated risks of CT-based radiation exposure and the need to keep children from receiving unnecessary scans seem to be achieving traction among healthcare providers, according to a study by Ohio researchers. Their findings suggest that such increased awareness may make referring physicians less likely to…
Continue
Added by Diagnostic Imaging on December 7, 2008 at 8:00pm —
No Comments
