Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee (BCBST) has agreed to pay the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services $1.5 million to settle potential violations of the HIPAA privacy and security rules.

While some argue that physician-industry relationships may be laced with bias and potentially create conflicts of interest, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) argued that if done correctly, these relationships can help improve clinical practice, according to an executive summary on continuing medical education (CME) published March 1 in the European Heart Journal.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the National Health Service Corps has awarded $9.1 million to students in 30 states who are preparing to become primary care providers.

Diagnostic radiology will have to assert its value to patients and referring physicians in order to continue to grow in a challenging environment where cost-consciousness and value are the focus, according to an article published in the February issue of Radiology.

Reimbursement cuts, radiology benefits management, accountable care organizationsthe list of strategies to control soaring U.S. healthcare costs is long and growing. But perhaps to truly control costs, healthcare needs to revisit where physicians' careers begin: medical school.

Performing CT scans in the emergency department (ED) for patients experiencing dizziness may not be worth the expense, according to a study conducted at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and presented Jan. 26 at the Triological Society Combined Sections Meeting in Miami.

Although 44.4 million adults make it a point to receive periodic health examinations each year, many of them may not be receiving the recommended screening tests and counseling services that could benefit their health, according to a study published January in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The Health Care Compliance Association, a nonprofit trade association for healthcare compliance professionals, determined that hospital audits conducted through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Recovery Audit Contractor program are usually handled by compliance departments and that they generally take a single full-time employee to manage.