According to a new market research report published by MarketsandMarkets, the value of Optical Imaging Technologies Market was $915.75 Million in the year 2012 and is expected to reach $1.9 Billion by 2018, at an estimated CAGR of 11.37% from 2013 to 2018.

After years of growth, the utilization rate for MR exams in the Medicare population fell 3.2 percent between 2008 and 2010, according a study published in the August issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

The Obama administration hyped healthcare spending rates for the last 12 months, noting that the increase is the lowest in the last 50 years. Hospital readmissions dropped as well, and the growth rate for premiums on employer-sponsored plans was clipped at 3 percent. In addition, price tags on state-sponsored health insurance rates are coming in well below projections in many states. Read more at the link below.

A majority of doctors abdicated “major responsibility” for reducing healthcare costs in a physician survey about cost control. They also expressed a lack of enthusiasm for eliminating fee-for-service payment models.

Physician integration into hospitals as large providers continue to acquire practices could be driving up costs, the opposite effect of what was touted from such arrangements, according to the results of a poll conducted by the American College of Physician Executives (ACPE).

Recent research has challenged the American College of Emergency Physicians’ (ACEP) advocacy positions on pricing and costs, revealing emergency department (ED) care to be a larger slice of the overall healthcare spending pie than previously thought, according to an editorial published online July 18 in Annals of Emergency Medicine (AEM).

With $1 billion in payments on the line, hospitals are homing in on patient satisfaction. They are hiring chief patient satisfaction officers and patient navigators and tapping into volunteers to check on patient needs. Other strategies include “yacker trackers” to hush noisy nurses and yoga for patients and staff.

A head-turning analysis has estimated annual national costs in the U.S. for patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with dizziness at $4 billion. CT imaging, which is often ineffective and overused in these cases, accounted for $360 million in costs in 2011.