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.

Ed Gaines, JD, CCP, vice president of regulatory affairs and industry liaison, Zotec Partners, discusses the No Surprises Act on radiology at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2022 meeting. Gaines works with RSNA on billing and Medicare issues and spoke in sessions at the RSNA 2022 meeting. Insurance companies have weaponized the No Surprises Act in an effort to cut their costs, he said.

VIDEO: Insurance companies have weaponized the No Surprises Act, may impact patient care

Ed Gaines, JD, CCP, vice president of regulatory affairs and industry liaison, Zotec Partners, discusses the impact of the No Surprises Act on healthcare and medical imaging at the RSNA 2022 meeting

GE Healthcare program recycles departments' leftover iodinated contrast for future use

In 2006, the company started an iodine recycling program for imaging departments that had leftover contrast that would go to waste at the end of the day if left unused. That program expanded into the U.S. and Canada in 2021.

Iodinated contrast use before, during and after COVID: Trends predict significant growth in demand

A new analysis suggests that, if the use of iodinated contrast were to follow pre-pandemic trends, it could rise by as much as 37% from 2019. 

The Nanox ARC cold-cathode, tomosythesis 3D X-ray system is currently pending FDA clearance. If cleared, it would be the first device of its kind to offer cold-cathode X-ray tube technology and the ability to slice through the anatomy in images similar to CT scans aid diagnosis. The new type of tube also could greatly reduce the size and weight of X-ray systems. The vendor sees this system as key to its larger plan to address health disparities and access to imaging world-wide. #Nanox

Can cold-cathode X-ray combined with teleradiology and AI eliminate health disparities?

The Israeli vendor Nanox says it has a vision for the future of healthcare. It seeks to address health disparities and access challenges with a new business model and innovative package of technologies. Hurdles loom, but opportunities abound. 

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CMS raises reimbursement rate for focused ultrasound prostate tissue ablation

The procedure has a current average reimbursement rate of $4,506. The new OPPS rule would significantly increase that figure.

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Dynamic chest radiography a suitable, low-cost alternative to V/Q scanning for pulmonary hypertension

Dynamic chest radiography was recently shown to be comparable to lung ventilation-perfusion scanning for detecting chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.  

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'Tremendous pressure' to keep up with radiologist workloads results in another missed diagnosis

The radiologist involved in the incident indicated that the department’s burdensome workload resulted in reduced reading times, saying that this made their departmental standard of double reading scans “virtually unattainable."

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Costs of PE interventions are frequently physician-dependent

“Without a clear reference standard technique that optimizes patient outcomes, device selection is based on availability and physician-driven selection, which can substantially impact procedural costs,” authors of a new cost analysis in Clinical Radiology stated.

Around the web

Positron, a New York-based nuclear imaging company, will now provide Upbeat Cardiology Solutions with advanced PET/CT systems and services. 

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.