Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Herb Kohl, D-Wis., authors of the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, have outlined substantive points to guide federal implementation of the act. Grassley and Kohl wrote to the Acting Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner with their points and also asked questions about when CMS will begin data collection.
CHICAGO—Coronary CT angiography (CCTA), as the first test for low- to intermediate-risk patients presenting to emergency departments (ED) with potential acute coronary syndrome, results in safe and expedited discharge from the emergency department of many patients who would otherwise be admitted, according to the late-breaking clinical trial, ACRIN PA, presented March 26 at the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) 61st annual scientific session.
When it comes to cost effectiveness, echocardiography and chronic coronary artery disease (CAD), consider rethinking the terminology. That was one message from a March 25 presentation at the American College of Cardiology’s (ACC) 61st annual scientific session.
Widespread belief that modern technology will drive cost-saving efforts has rationalized recent federal investments to increase health IT adoption, but research published in the March issue of Health Affairs contradicts that belief, revealing that the ability to view imaging results electronically correlated with more orders for diagnostic imaging.
One percent of the U.S. population accounted for 22 percent of all healthcare spending in 2009 while the lower spending half of the population accounted for only 2.9 percent, according to a report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
As the healthcare system abandons fee-for-service reimbursement models for the potential savings of value-based reimbursement models, IT services firm CSC suggested that incentives for patients and providers need to more closely resemble each other for the transition to work.
The transition to a new year lends itself to reflection on the past and preparation for the future, and an article in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology takes the opportunity to do both by looking back on ACR’s 2011 Annual Meeting and Chapter Leadership Conference (AMCLC) where a major topic of conversation was the challenges facing radiology heading into an uncertain future.
Oncology clinicians may soon have hundreds of biomarker tests available to them to assist in developing personalized cancer treatments, but some healthcare professionals believe that novel funding approaches for biomarker tests’ studies—a systematic process to move biomarker tests through regulatory agencies and a body of evidence supporting biomarker tests’ benefits—will all be necessary before healthcare system stakeholders accept their use.
Allowing physicians to choose a stress test modality for lower-risk patients presenting at an emergency department with chest pain was more cost-effective than mandating a cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) stress test, according to a study published online Nov. 29 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging. In an observation unit (OU), provider choice care resulted in similar results as CMR-mandated care, with a lower price tag.
CHICAGO—Due to changes in CPT coding and fee schedules that have reduced reimbursement for stress tests and coronary CT angiography (CCTA) in the 2009 through 2011 Medicare fee schedules, triage strategies that begin with stress EKG or stress echocardiography and progress to CCTA (if the stress test is positive) represent the least expensive options, and are more cost-effective relative to strategies that utilize myocardial perfusion scintigraphy, according to a study presented Nov. 30 at the 97th annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
CHICAGO--The unsustainable cost trajectory in healthcare is well-known, but much less understood are strategies for practices to thrive as government and payors step up efforts to bend the cost curve. Experts examined the drivers and impacts of the cost curve conundrum during a session on Nov. 28 at the 97th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
SAN FRANCISCO—To reinvigorate medical innovation, the U.S. is in “desperate need of governmental and regulatory reform” and positive case examples to show that it still can be achieved, according to Martin B. Leon, MD, who gave a Nov. 7 lecture at the 23rd annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference.
While the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s (MedPAC’s) overall goal to scrap the government’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula is commendable, most say the commission is going about it the wrong way and have asked MedPAC to rethink its proposal. A MedPAC solution, proposal in September, was recommended by members in a 15-2 vote Oct. 6; however, most say the plan needs reworking, particularly because the proposal to overturn SGR is laced with long-term freezes and cuts to physician payments.
The American College of Radiology (ACR) has issued a letter imploring radiologists to express their disapproval over reimbursement cuts planned for the 2012 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule.
Physician compensation in 2010 flattened, while radiologists faced a decline in average salary, the likely results of dropping reimbursements, according to a survey released this week by Medicus.
As solo physicians become increasingly corralled up by multispecialty practices and larger organizations, medicine faces a growing bureaucratic trend, for patients and physicians. Though the thought of bureaucracy may conjure negative sentiments, radiology can learn and benefit from some important models of bureaucracy, according to the author of an article published in the July issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.
A federal district court has convicted 41-year-old Radiologist Rajashakher P. Reddy, MD, of more than 30 counts of fraud and obstruction of justice in connection with his signing tens of thousands of radiology reports that neither he nor any other physician actually viewed.
Payors and patients may be vastly overpaying for some of the most common CT, MRI and mammography exams owing to huge price disparities both within and across regions, according to a quarterly report issued by change:healthcare.
A California radiologist who owned several medical practices, including an imaging center, has been charged with fraudulently billing workers’ compensation patients for false and unnecessary procedures, and faces sentences of up to 892 years in prison.
A West Palm Beach, Fla. radiology practice will pay the U.S. government $3 million to settle charges that it submitted false Medicare claims as part of illegal service agreements with referring physicians. A pair of radiologists who initiated the investigation will receive a $600,000 settlement.
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