Economics

This channel highlights factors that impact hospital and healthcare economics and revenue. This includes news on healthcare policies, reimbursement, marketing, business plans, mergers and acquisitions, supply chain, salaries, staffing, and the implementation of a cost-effective environment for patients and providers.

Building a successful CCTA program: Physicians and healthcare executives to share advice
CCTA continues to grow more and more important in the day-to-day treatment of heart patients. Hospitals and health systems that fail to embrace the modality risk falling behind.
Shift toward imaging outside the hospital could save billions
Harvard’s David A. Rosman, MD, MBA, explains how moving imaging outside of hospitals could save billions of dollars for U.S. healthcare.
Mexico, not China, is biggest tariff concern among radiology vendors
If 25% tariffs go into effect, it could have a big impact on the cost of medical imaging and radiotherapy systems, with many manufacturing facilities in Mexico.
The impact of Trump tariffs on iodine contrast media costs
GE HealthCare said the price of iodine contrast increased by more than 200% between 2017 to 2023. Will new Chinese tariffs drive costs even higher?
ACR shares guidance to help members deal with confusing White House executive orders
A string of executive orders from the White House created serious concerns among radiologists and other healthcare providers throughout the United States. The American College of Radiology issued a statement to help guide its members through the chaos.

Medicare alternative payment models fee for service value based care

Unavoidability of ‘one-off’ imaging forces radiology to keep one foot in fee-for-service world

Radiology can participate only sporadically in CMS’s current conception of value-based care. Why?

Dense breast imaging specialists secure $12M in funding

Delphinus Medical Technologies says it will use the investment to expand the commercial adoption of its SoftVue 3D Whole Breast Tomography System.

Rethinking ICM storage could help imaging departments reduce waste by 59%

“While drug pricing is not opaque and absolute costs of medications can vary widely, any waste comes at a cost," researchers wrote in a new analysis.

Stephen Little, MD, discusses trends in echocardiography at ASE 2023. #ASE23 #ASE2023 What is new in cardiac ultrasound.

Back in the spotlight: Exploring echocardiography's revival

American Society of Echocardiography President Stephen Little, MD, says several trends and technologies are coming together at once, leading to renewed interest in echo.

dipyridamole injection drug shortage heart imaging Canada

‘I have no dose for anyone right now’: Drug shortage hits cardiologists in Canada, leading to delays

“It's very important,” one cardiologist said. “This is a life-saving test and it's very frustrating that we can't access the medication.”

Syringeless contrast media injectors like the GE Ulrich CT Motion have gained a lot of interest in 2022 because of the iodine contrast shortage. These systems use rollers to squeeze precise amounts of contrast from a large bolus container for multiple patients, helping conserve a significant amount of contrast.

Multi-use syringeless injectors could completely eliminate contrast waste

Such products could increase departmental efficiency and advance environmental initiatives in radiology, experts claimed in Academic Radiology.

Two examples of PSMA-PET scans showing numerous prostate cancer metastases spread throughout the body. Many of these smaller tumors would not have been dected on previous standard-of-care imaging. Photo on left courtesy of SNMMI, right University of Chicago. #PSMAPET

PSMA-PET a more cost-effective option for patients long-term compared to standard prostate imaging

The findings support adopting F-18 DCFPyL PET/CT as the standard of care for prostate cancer staging, authors of a new Scientific Reports paper concluded.

Is warming iodinated contrast prior to use really necessary?

The ACR Manual on Contrast Media suggests that highly viscous ICM should be warmed to body temperature prior to administration when using high-rate intravenous low-osmolality power injections, viscous iodinated CM, small-caliber catheters, or for timed studies looking at peak enhancement.

Around the web

Cardiovascular Business

Key trends in diagnostic heart testing: CT on the rise as some traditional techniques fall out of favor

The cardiac technologies clinicians use for CVD evaluations have changed significantly in recent years, according to a new analysis of CMS data. While some modalities are on the rise, others are being utilized much less than ever before.

Cardiovascular Business

ASE updates recommendations for assessing right heart function in patients with pulmonary hypertension

The new guidelines were designed to ensure sonographers and other members of the heart team have the information they need to screen patients when appropriate and identify early warnings signs of PH.

Radiology Business

Shift toward imaging outside the hospital could save billions

Harvard’s David A. Rosman, MD, MBA, explains how moving imaging outside of hospitals could save billions of dollars for U.S. healthcare.

Economics

Building a successful CCTA program: Physicians and healthcare executives to share advice

Shift toward imaging outside the hospital could save billions

Mexico, not China, is biggest tariff concern among radiology vendors

The impact of Trump tariffs on iodine contrast media costs

ACR shares guidance to help members deal with confusing White House executive orders

Around the web