In a reversal of its 2002 recommendations, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has issued new guidelines against routine screening mammography in women aged 40 to 49 years, against teaching women breast self-examination and advocating biennial screening mammography only for women aged 50 to 74 years.
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s (MedPAC) proposal to raise the utilization rate for imaging equipment to 90 percent is unrealistic based on fundamental economic principles and from a basic medical workflow perspective, according to an analysis released yesterday by the Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC).
The American College of Radiology (ACR) is continuing to lobby for changes in several provisions in both the House and Senate versions of healthcare reform.
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled their healthcare reform legislation Friday, calling for a 75 percent increase in the equipment utilization rate and an increase of 25 to 50 percent in the reduction of the technical component of imaging for multiple procedures.
The Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC) has unveiled a new Web site to demonstrate the imaging community's support for public policy that ensures patients have access to diagnostic imaging services.
The Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC) released new data analysis Monday countering recommendations from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), which has called for significant cuts in physician reimbursement rates for advanced medical imaging procedures.
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The Access to Medical Imaging Coalition has released an analysis of 2008 Medicare claims data, which shows that growth in advanced imaging volume is less than that of other physician services since the implementation of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA).
The Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC) has released the results of a poll by Zogby International that suggests “Americans recognize the value of medical imaging as a critical component of high-quality healthcare.”
The Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC) has released a statement of "concern" over the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) recent recommendations to President Barack Obama and Congress to reduce Medicare reimbursement rates for medical imaging and radiation therapies through an increase of 90 percent in assumed utilization rates for outpatient imaging and radiation facilities.
Data released by the Radiology Business Management Association (RBMA) this week demonstrated that the use rate of diagnostic imaging equipment in an outpatient setting is approximately one half the amount claimed by the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and the Administration of President Barack Obama.
Imaging provisions contained in the Senate Finance Committee's proposals for healthcare delivery reform are "forward-thinking" policies that will ensure proper diagnostic imaging utilization over the long term, according to the Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC).
A recent recommendation from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) to change the formula that determines physician reimbursement rates for advanced imaging procedures "is based on a deeply flawed survey that should be rejected," according to the Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC). Specifically, MedPAC has called on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to significantly increase the formula's assumption about the amount of time that advanced imaging equipment is used by physicians by 40 percent, which will further slash reimbursement rates.
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The use of health IT to reduce rehospitalizations will be welcome but also disruptive, said Stephen Jencks, an independent consultant in healthcare safety during a Feb. 24 webinar on the potential use of health IT to mitigate rehospitalizations, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
During the Health IT Standards Committee meeting on Feb. 24 in Washington, D.C., the Clinical Operations Workgroup sought to gather comments on proposed recommendations on implementation specifications for content exchange, vocabulary and code set standards for the Interim Final Rule of meaningful use.
In 2006, the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), a branch of the FDA, began examining the number of medical device reports they received. Over the past two years, the number of submitted reports has increased, sparking a demand for the CDRH to make a move to electronic reporting.
A new hospital breaking ground usually isn’t breaking news. But the vision of patient care at one new facility, tentatively named Palomar Medical Center West (PMC West), is currently illegal under California state law.