Advanced Imaging Centers, an independent radiology group serving Floridas Lake and Sumter counties, has adopted a simplified cash-pay process designed to provide more pricing transparency and reach patients who believe they cannot afford care.

One percent of the U.S. population accounted for 22 percent of all healthcare spending in 2009 while the lower spending half of the population accounted for only 2.9 percent, according to a report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

As the healthcare system abandons fee-for-service reimbursement models for the potential savings of value-based reimbursement models, IT services firm CSC suggested that incentives for patients and providers need to more closely resemble each other for the transition to work.

Insurance status doesnt affect the quantity or value of imaging services received by patients in a hospital in-patient setting, according to a study appearing in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR).

Historically low aggregate healthcare spending growth of 3.8 percent in 2009 continued into 2010 when it increased only 3.9 percent, according to researchers from the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS), who attributed the recent pattern of low growth to decreased consumption following the recession of the late-2000s.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has reportedly saved $984 million through fiscal years 2007 and 2010 by enrolling 1.1 million of the states Medicaid beneficiaries in medical homes, according to an analysis commissioned by the state legislature.

The transition to a new year lends itself to reflection on the past and preparation for the future, and an article in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology takes the opportunity to do both by looking back on ACRs 2011 Annual Meeting and Chapter Leadership Conference (AMCLC) where a major topic of conversation was the challenges facing radiology heading into an uncertain future.

Siemens, the Munich-based conglomerate, is planning to cut up to 1,000 jobs in its healthcare division.