While pressure to justify the appropriateness of imaging remains ubiquitous, newly published research may offer some defense for use of CT of the abdomen and pelvis in the ED as it appears to be preferentially used in patients classified as clinically complex, according to a study appearing in the June issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

With a bill to halt the approaching medical device tax teed up to hit the House floor any day nowthe bill being Minnesota Republican Erik Paulsens heavily co-sponsored Protect Medical Innovation Act of 2011pro-repeal pundits and politicians have been weighing in and pulling few punches.

The gap between evidence and practice in the use of head CTs to assess patients with mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the emergency department is wide and might be mitigated by comprehensive strategies to integrate evidence-based medicine into resident education, according to a perspective published online April 30 in Annals of Emergency Medicine.

What started as a relative trickle of reimbursement cuts in the early part of the decade has expanded into a deluge in the last 18 months.

In many healthcare organizations, physicians play an administrative role that is increasingly complex and changing in scope. As such, stipend amounts for nonclinical effort continue to evolve as a component of many physicians total compensation plans, according to a report released by Medical Group Management Association (MGMA).

CHICAGOThe Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been debated and discussed ad nauseam, but how will the guts of the bill actually impact doctors? This is the question Richard E. Anderson, MD, chairman and CEO of The Doctors Company, asked March 25 at an afternoon session at the 61st annual American College of Cardiology (ACC) scientific session. While the bills goal is to insure more Americans, Anderson said ultimately it will increase demand yet offer no break in terms of supply or professional liability.

CHICAGOThe inclusion of physicians in marketing and outreach to medical professionals and consumers was crucial to increasing volume of Riverside Medical Centers peripheral vascular program in both primary and secondary markets, according to a poster presentation at the American College of Cardiovascular Administrators (ACCA) annual meeting, March 21 to 23.

The American Medical Association (AMA) applauded the House Energy and Commerce Committees decision to repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a panel which, according to AMA President-elect Jeremy Lazarus, MD, would have too little accountability and the power to make indiscriminate cuts that adversely affect access to healthcare for patients.