Several medical professional societies have called for national coverage for CT colonography as a screening tool for colorectal cancer, urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reimburse providers for the exam.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) competitive
bidding program for durable medical equipment is under fire in
both Congress and the U.S. courts.
The Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC) Thursday praised the
Senate Finance Committee leadership—Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and
Ranking Member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa—for including medical imaging
provisions, as well as accreditation and appropriateness criteria for
advanced diagnostic imaging services, in both versions of their
proposed Medicare legislation.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has awarded a
total of $24.5 million to its highest-performing members in a Medicare
pay-for-performance demonstration project, according to officials from
the hospital consortium Premier.
Some characteristics of mammography facilities are associated with the
accuracy of interpretation of screening mammograms, according to a
study published online June 10 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services has warned repeatedly that the Medicare program is "highly
vulnerable" to fraud, particularly in South Florida, where schemes
center on expensive, infusion-based HIV medications and on equipment
such as wheelchairs, walkers, canes and hospital beds.
An audit of the Illinois Medicaid program has revealed a $1.5
billion financial shortfall, which has led to delayed physician, hospital and
nursing home reimbursements in recent years. Despite this, physicians
report that the state is processing claims more quickly, and hospitals
soon may see more timely payments, according to American Medical News.
Despite statutory language in the Social Security Act defining radiopharmaceuticals as "specified covered outpatient drugs," the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently reclassified diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals as supplies instead of drugs. In response, the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) has proposed recommendations for reforming radiopharmaceutical reimbursement under Medicare.
One of the seminal events of the annual SNM conference is the selection
of the “Image of the Year” from the thousands of scientific
presentations delivered over the course of the annual meeting. This
year, two images were jointly selected as the 2008 SNM Image of the
Year.
Health Imaging News 
Previous