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People who live in healthier counties tend to have higher education levels, are more likely to be employed, have access to more healthcare providers and have more access to healthier foods, parks and recreational facilities, according to a report on the rank of overall health of every county in the U.S. from the University of Wisconsin’s Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).
As U.S. healthcare costs inflate, factors such as insurance status, demographics and increased patient health risk must be investigated when defining ways to realign healthcare spending, according to a report released by the American Hospital Association this week.
The American Medical Isotopes Production Act (HR 3276) was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee on Oct. 21. The new legislation will help to fund projects for producing the medical isotope molybdenum-99 within the U.S., in order to ensure a consistent supply for American patients.
Developments in imaging technology and software continue to help cardiac MRI exams gain prominence in the medical imaging market and will drive global sales of the technology to a projected $605 million in 2012, according to a report by healthcare market research firm Kalorama Information.
Written by Justine Cadet
In a retrospective analysis of nearly 700,000 non-elderly Americans who underwent at least one medical imaging procedure over a three-year period, approximately 20 percent received a moderate to very high dose of radiation, according to data in the Aug. 27 New England Journal of Medicine. Michael S. Lauer, MD, who wrote the accompanying perspective, stated that most imaging tests haven’t yet proven their benefit compared with the potential risks and costs.
CT angiography (CTA) can identify abnormalities and injury beyond the pulmonary arteries, including broken bones and heart disease in pediatric patients, according to a study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.
The number of cancer deaths has declined steadily in the last three decades. Although younger people have experienced the steepest declines, all age groups have shown some improvement, according to research published Aug. 13 in Cancer Research.
The Institute for Molecular Technologies, a council of the Academy of Molecular Imaging (AMI), on Friday introduced the ACE Awareness, Communication and Education program developed to generate awareness and enhance the quality of PET imaging. The ACE kits, which address all indications covered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for PET imaging, will be available July 1.
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) anticipates that the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor in Chalk River, Canada, will remain out of service for more than one month. Last Friday, AECL removed the remaining molybdenum-99 available for isotope production from the NRU reactor; and as a result, MDS Nordion expects the impact of the shutdown to be felt this week.
Physicians and industry representatives convened in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss the role of health IT as part of healthcare reform, as well as to generate ideas and considerations on the definition of "meaningful use."
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Smoking and obesity were rated the most significant risk factors affecting the health of Americans and the rising healthcare costs, according to the 2009 America’s Health Ranking report.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed HR 3276—the American Medical Isotopes Production Act of 2009—by a roll call vote of 400-17. The legislation will help to fund projects for producing the medical isotope molybdenum-99 within the United States.
In a Wednesday visit to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) campus in Bethesda, Md., President Barack Obama announced $5 billion in grant awards under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to fund medical research in every state.
Tuesday, September 15 2009
A study in today's online edition of the American Journal of Public Health has found that nearly 45,000 deaths annually are associated with a lack of health insurance.
Although radiologic science educators experience less job burnout than practicing radiologic technologists (RTs), there is a significant correlation between health status and burnout levels among the educators, according to survey results released in the July/August issue of Radiologic Technology.
Patients who experience fatigue during radiotherapy for breast or prostate cancer may be reacting to activation of the proinflammatory cytokine network, an inflammatory pathway, according to an observational study published Aug. 18 in Clinical Cancer Research.
Reps. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, and Fred Upton, R-Mich., the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee, have introduced the American Medical Isotopes Production Act, which seeks to ensure that a reliable supply of critical medical isotopes are produced in the United States.
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, led by Chairman Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., introduced legislation this week advocating for more government involvement in healthcare coverage. The bill is certain to launch a drawn-out debate over the current delivery direction of healthcare in the United States when it is introduced on the Senate floor in July.
MDS Nordion, TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, and the University of British Columbia have entered into a three-year research and development partnership to pursue the development of new diagnostic imaging agents using technology based on radiometals and chelates.
Researchers found that a myocardial perfusion test with gated SPECT was a more accurate predictor of prognosis in chronic ischemic heart disease, compared with the capability of other medical techniques to determine the extent of heart disease and stratify patients, according to a study in the April issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine.
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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.