DALLAS—Radiologists may be missing the boat by overlooking the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), “an elegantly simple incentive program made complicated by the government,” C. Matthew Hawkins, MD, radiology fellow at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, said during an educational session at the annual meeting of the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM).

DALLAS—Radiation dose monitoring initiatives bring both benefits and flaws, according to Jessica Clements, MS, medical physicist and radiation safety officer at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, during an education session at the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine (SIIM) annual meeting.

If it feels like you are being pulled in multiple directions lately, it’s because you probably are.

Radiologists who have access to patient exposure histories will make recommendations for future imaging that take into account previously incurred imaging risks, even though models of radiation exposure and cancer risk indicate previous imaging should not affect decision making, according to a study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Strategic Radiology (SR®) announced today that Radiology Associates of South Florida (RASF) will join the SR network of large, clinically advanced groups geographically dispersed throughout the US. With the addition of RASF, SR now comprises 16 leading radiology group practices, representing more than 1,000 radiologists dedicated to setting the standard for radiology excellence through quality care drawn from collaborative best practices.

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) study of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) accreditation process for advanced diagnostic imaging suppliers found that CMS did not establish adequate minimum national standards.

Teleradiology has the potential to bring many positives to patient care such as improved overnight coverage and access to subspecialty interpretations. As Chair of the ACR Task Force on Teleradiology, I had the privilege of overseeing the creation of best practice standards to help ensure quality from the field of teleradiology. The product of our effort is a white paper detailing the task force’s recommendations.

The American College of Radiology (ACR) issued a statement urging Americans ages 50 and older, particularly those with a family history of colorectal cancer, to get recommended screening after a June 1 New York Times article singled out colonoscopies as a case study of why U.S. healthcare costs so much.