Massachusetts State Auditor Joe DeNucci has reported that the state's Medicaid program, MassHealth, may be losing millions of dollars due to unnecessary advanced imaging services, such as CT and MRI exams.

The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, Institute for Radioelements in Fleurus, Belgium, and Ion Beam Applications in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, three major distributors of radioisotopes for medical exams in Europe, have partnered to secure the supply of technetium-99 (Tc-99m) beyond 2015.

A series of studies published in the September issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine show that molecular imaging plays a critical role in the evaluation and treatment planning for a spectrum of cancers, including thyroid cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, Hodgkin lymphoma and non-small cell lung cancer.

The California State Assembly in a bipartisan vote of 70-4 has approved SB 1237, which seeks to establish protocols and safeguards to protect patients from excess radiation exposure during CT scans by requiring radiation dosage levels be recorded on the scanned image and in a patient’s health records and that radiation overdoses be reported to patients, their treating physicians and the California Department of Public Health.

The repair of the High Flux Reactor (HFR) in Petten, the Netherlands, is proceeding well and the reactor is expected to achieve the first HFR Full Power Day (45 MW) on Sept. 9, according to the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group of the Netherlands.

The Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) has scheduled another extended outage for next spring, as part of the Chalk River Laboratories, National Research Universal (NRU) reactor's return to service activities.

Recently introduced breast imaging modalities, including breast-specific gamma imaging and positron emission mammography, are linked with higher cancer risk per study compared with the risks associated with mammography and extend cancer risk to radiosensitive organs, according to a study published online Aug. 24 in Radiology.

The nuclear medicine community has been pressuring the U.S. government to develop improved domestic capability for producing these materials to reduce this dependence, said Robert Atcher, PhD, MBA, immediate past president of SNM and director of National Isotope Development Center at Los Alamos National Laboratory in White Rock, N.M., at an opening session of the 240th conference of the American Chemical Society, held this week in Boston.

The Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) has reported that the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor at Chalk River Laboratories in Chalk River, Ontario--the world's largest producer of molybdenum-99--can again begin to create medical isotopes.

Radiology professional society guidelines, in and of themselves, do not comprise effective decision support for reducing inappropriate use of medical imaging, opined Ramin Khorasani, MD, MPH, vice chair of radiology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, in the September issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

The Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is estimating that National Research Universal reactor in Chalk River, Ontario, will resume isotope production by mid-August.

The Society for Heart Attack Prevention and Eradication (SHAPE), which drew some controversy in 2006 when it published guidelines calling for screening a wide population of men and women with noninvasive imaging, is taking another look at the progress in heart disease predictors in order to refine and update those guidelines.

Highmark, beginning in September, will require general practitioners, cardiologists and other providers to request an authorization before performing myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI).

The vacancy rate for radiographers has continued to decline in recent years and is now at 2.1 percent, according to a staffing survey conducted by the American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT).

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a decision memo stating that the national coverage determination manual will be changed to remove the current absolute restriction of coverage to ‘only one’ FDG PET scan, and local Medicare administrative contractors will have discretion to cover (or not cover) any additional FDG PET scan for initial treatment strategy in solid tumors and myeloma.

The Consistency, Accuracy, Responsibility and Excellence (CARE) in Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy bill (S. 3737) was introduced in the U.S. Senate last week for the establishment of minimum education and credentialing standards for personnel who plan and deliver radiation therapy treatments and medical imaging services as part of the Medicare program.

The FDA issued two evaluations containing recommendations that address three objectives of the agency’s public health mission as it relates to medical devices--foster device innovation, create a more predictable regulatory environment and enhance device safety.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a prospective payment system final rule for fiscal year 2011 for acute-care and long-term care hospitals that would decrease average inpatient payments by 0.4 percent.

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited has reported that during the fuel reloading of the National Research Universal reactor at Chalk River, Ontario, a specific set of reactor instrumentation, important to safe operation, was not responding and replacement of the instrumentation is estimated to add 10 to 15 days beyond the planned return-to-service date of July 31.

Siemens AG today reported a EUR118 million ($153.7 million U.S.) increase in net income, with an overall revenue gain of 4 percent, partly driven by strong healthcare unit revenue, which increased 10 percent year-over-year with contributions from all divisions in the fiscal 2010 third quarter, compared with the previous year’s third quarter.