Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming a crucial component of healthcare to help augment physicians and make them more efficient. In medical imaging, it is helping radiologists more efficiently manage PACS worklists, enable structured reporting, auto detect injuries and diseases, and to pull in relevant prior exams and patient data. In cardiology, AI is helping automate tasks and measurements on imaging and in reporting systems, guides novice echo users to improve imaging and accuracy, and can risk stratify patients. AI includes deep learning algorithms, machine learning, computer-aided detection (CAD) systems, and convolutional neural networks. 

Anthem Blue Cross notifies 470,000 patients of breach

Approximately 470,000 insurance applicants are being notified in multiple states by Anthem Blue Cross after recently learning that persons of interest manipulated the payors Individual Application Tracker web portal, which allows people applying for insurance to track the status of their insurance applications.

AFP Imaging becomes ImageWorks

Medical imaging technology provider AFP Imaging has changed its name to ImageWorks, following the companys first year under new ownership.

Mayo Clinic, U of Illinois align for R&D

Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have entered into a strategic alliance designed to promote various collaborative research projects and develop new technologies.

Report: U.S. ranks poorly for healthcare performance

Despite having the most costly health system in the world, the U.S. consistently lags on most dimensions of performance relative to other countries, according to new research from the Commonwealth Fund. Compared with Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the U.K., the U.S. ranks last overall.

AHA: Hospitals contribute 16% of GDP, 5.3 million jobs to U.S. economy

U.S. hospitals provide economic stability and even growth during times of recession, employing more than 5.3 million people in 2008, according to a recent report from the American Hospital Association (AHA).

3M introduces ICD-10 consulting services, software

3M Health Information Systems has introduced ICD-10 consulting services combined with ICD-10 software to help hospitals prepare for a transition to the new coding standard, scheduled to be implemented in 2013 across the U.S.

HFMA MAPs hospital revenue cycles

MAP, a strategy developed by the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) to increase the efficiency of a hospital's revenue cycle, was released this week.

Images & the Health Information Exchange: A Work in Progress

Some five dozen health information exchange (HIE) initiatives have cropped up across the nation enabling clinicians to share critical patient information with other caregivers in a timely fashion to allow swift, more-informed care. Currently, the sharing of medical images and radiology reports is very limited through HIEs, but forward-thinking clinicians and IT leaders are working to make seamless image sharing a radiological reality.

Around the web

RBMA President Peter Moffatt discusses declining reimbursement rates, recruiting challenges and the role of artificial intelligence in transforming the industry.

Deepak Bhatt, MD, director of the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital and principal investigator of the TRANSFORM trial, explains an emerging technique for cardiac screening: combining coronary CT angiography with artificial intelligence for plaque analysis to create an approach similar to mammography.

A total of 16 cardiology practices from 12 states settled with the DOJ to resolve allegations they overbilled Medicare for imaging agents used to diagnose cardiovascular disease.