The CT Colonography (CTC) Coalition has called on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) to reconsider its recommendation regarding virtual colorectal cancer screening, following the statement issued by the task force maintaining that further research is still required to make a conclusive recommendation regarding CTC.
The FDA has alerted the public to problems associated with the quality of mammograms performed at the Medisound facility in Kissimmee, Fla
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.
Combining national radiology incident reporting systems with appropriate analysis and action can result in significantly safer healthcare. However, optimal deployment requires integration into a wider safety quality and risk management framework, according to an article in this month's Journal of American College of Radiology.
Enhanced coordination between the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the FDA for future mobile/wireless broadband (mHealth) medical devices and applications--including imaging requirements--were the topic during a roundtable discussion held during a public meeting last week.
Audit feedback and small-group teaching regarding multidetector CT (MDCT) scanning can help facilities achieve radiation dose reduction, according to a study in the August issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.
Nonclinical contributions to the radiology practice are measurable and can play a valuable role in the practice assessment process, according to an article in this month's Journal of the American College of Radiology.
Written by Lisa Fratt
This year’s Top 25 Connected Facilities are an impressive group that has extended the reach of images from PACS to the EMR, either via links to key images or full image sets. Many extend PACS and EMR access to referring physicians and share data with a health information exchange (HIE) internally and/or externally. They are reaping across-the-board benefits—accelerating and improving patient care with anytime/anywhere access to patient data, virtual subspecialty interpretation and razor-thin report turn-around times that hover near 15 minutes for STAT studies. They are cutting costs, increasing productivity and fueling growth.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has appointed two American College of Radiology (ACR) members to serve on its Advisory Committee on the Medical Uses of Isotopes, which advises NRC on policy and technical issues that arise in the regulation of medical uses of radioactive material in diagnosis and therapy.
The Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), which is funded by the American College of Radiology, has named Christopher H. Crane, MD, as its new chair of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Committee.
Written by Gina Narcisi
The setting for the 2010 annual meeting of the AHRA: association for medical imaging management—Washington, D.C.—couldn’t be more appropriate. As always, the meeting will focus on executive-level radiology management strategies, but this year, Beltway initiatives, including healthcare reform and new regulations, will take center stage.
The U.S. can best address CT overutilization and issues of quality control and training through national legislation, according to an editorial published in the July edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Approximately one-third of patients irradiated annually can be treated with proton therapy, which would result in a 20 percent increase in costs across the entire cancer patient population, according to a study published in the July edition of Journal of the American College of Radiology.
The CTC (CT colonography) Working Group has reiterated the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention’s call for added colon cancer screening and increased access to non-invasive procedures like CTC to facilitate increased screening rates.
Imaging contract research organization ACR Image Metrix has appointed Jaskaran Boparai, BS, RT, as a clinical project manager.
“The marketplace of ideas in peer-reviewed published literature is not a venue that should rely on the principle caveat emptor,” wrote R. James Brenner, MD, JD, in an editorial in the July edition of the Journal of the American College of Radiology. In reality, bias in scientific literature obliges buyers to beware.
A New England Journal of Medicine article suggesting FDA jurisdiction over CT use has sparked an uproar in the radiology community. The American College of Radiology and Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance offered an alternative solution in a joint statement issued on June 29.
SNM has issued guidelines to assist nuclear medicine practitioners in recommending, performing, interpreting and reporting results of hepatobiliary scintigraphy in adults and children.
The principal investigators of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group re-elected Walter J. Curran Jr., MD, to a fourth term as group chair.
Written by Gina Narcisi
In today’s climate of diminishing reimbursement and the continuous battle to hold onto referrals and contracts, radiology practices are focused on providing superior radiology services and being fiscally fit. While there are many reasons why a radiology practice—especially those offering outpatient imaging services—can falter, practices that are thriving are carefully blending a combination of politics, patient research and preparation for the long-haul.
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