Manufacturers of medical devices must prepare to respond to the FDAs new unique device identification (UDI) provisions, which could require serialization not only of finished products but also constituent components. This may require manufacturers to rethink sourcing and supplier monitoring processes.

ORLANDO, Fla.Even though the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), more reforms will be necessary to control spending and preserve the healthcare system, according to a presentation Aug. 12 at the 40th annual meeting of AHRA: the Association for Medical Imaging Management.

Most medical specialties saw marginal increases in compensation in 2011; however, radiologists bucked the trend, according to findings released Aug. 6 as part of the American Medical Group Association's 2012 Medical Group Compensation and Financial Survey.

The Supreme Courts Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act decision, ruling the individual mandate constitutional under Congress taxing power and forced Medicaid expansion unconstitutional under Congress spending power, expands the federal governments ability to regulate individual behavior while testing its ability to shape national policy through conditions attached to federal dollars sent to states, according to a July 18 New England Journal of Medicine article.

In the war over reimbursements, a battleground has developed in North Carolina, where the states largest health insurer is pursuing a 50 percent reduction to the technical component fee for multiple image procedures amid outcry from many of the states providers.

The aftereffects of the Supreme Courts landmark decision on June 28 to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will ripple for years. Now, after months of speculation and stagnation, the U.S. can return to business as usual.

Altarum Institute and its partners, United Physicians (a physician organization of independent doctors practicing in Southeast Michigan) and the Detroit Medical Center Physician Hospital Organization, have been awarded $8.4 million from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to develop and employ a systemic model to reduce unnecessary medical imaging in Southeast Michigan.

Several specific healthcare costs for the privately insured in 2010 increased by almost three times the rate of general inflation, according to a report from the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI). The per capita spending on inpatient and outpatient facilities, professional procedures and prescription drugs rose 3.3 percent in 2010 for beneficiaries under age 65 with private, employer-sponsored group insurance.