Texting on top of phoning outpatient MRI patients to remind them of their scan appointments gets them to show up, all right, although it doesn’t help spur them to arrive on time.

The Minnesota Department of Health has determined that, in 2014, North Star Staters spent at least $55 million on procedures considered “low value” by Choosing Wisely criteria—and some 92,000 of those procedures were imaging exams.

A tech-centric project aimed at improving the quality of radiographic images in the radiology department of a pediatric teaching hospital has succeeded in cutting technologists’ collective error rate from 2.7 percent in the project’s first three months to 0.9 percent in the final six months. 

At some point in the not-distant future, a patient is going to blame someone—perhaps a physician, maybe even a radiologist—for an injurious care decision made, recommended or otherwise nudged by artificial intelligence (AI). Who will be slapped with the suit? 

Westminster, CO –May 25, 2017.   Double Black Imaging announced today that it has acquired the Image Systems PACS Display Business from Richardson Electronics, Ltd. (NASDAQ: RELL).

Along with confirming CT as a fast and relatively low-radiation means of guiding epidural steroid injections for pain relief in the spine, researchers in New York City have shown CT guidance similarly safe and speedy for other back-pain interventions like injections to nerve roots and facet joints. 

Judging by thousands of insurance claims, spinal manipulation does little to tamp down the overall costs of treating low-back pain. Further, the popular therapy is often preceded by costly and unnecessary imaging exams.

Opportunities for individuals thinking about becoming medical-imaging technologists are opening up in Northern California, where demand is increasing and the Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts has begun offering certificate and two-year associate degrees from a new campus in in Sacramento County.