We've seen a winter marked by snowpocalypse and political cacophony that plummeted to new lows. The slightest wisp of thaw seemed to be the air in the wake of the Tucson tragedy, but just as quickly the GOP pulled the rug out with H.R. 2, designed to repeal the job killing healthcare law.

The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) slashed reimbursement for diagnostic imaging centers by placing a cap on technical-component payments from Medicare for non-hospital imaging services beginning in January 2007.

As the new year rolls in, were due to have a new healthcare reform planas well as an increase in the federal debt ceiling. My hope is the former brings good news for patients and the fiscal health of healthcare; the latter only means bad news.

A compendium of the business intelligence required to launch a CCTA service

The halcyon days of ensured financial success simply by virtue of being the community hospitals radiology department are a thing of the past. Market pressures from independent imaging centers, other medical specialties utilization of imaging modalities, and targeted reimbursement cuts for imaging procedures from government and private payors require radiology departments to aggressively compete for patients.

President Barack Obama Wednesday signed a $32.8 billion bill to reauthorize the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for the next five years.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) said it protected roughly $400 million of taxpayer dollars as improper payments for Medicare fee-for-service (FFS), a 3.9 percent decrease from 2007 to 3.6 percent, or $10.4 billion, in FY 2008.

The downs are outdoing the ups in radiology and radiation oncology reimbursement these days, but smart administrators can find some ways around the numbers.