Applications for the Putting Patients First Grant from AHRA: The Association for Medical Imaging Management and Toshiba are due Oct. 15.

The University of Wisconsin (UW) School of Medicine and Public Health, GE Healthcare and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation have reached new research collaboration and technology invention agreements that will result in the creation of a new imaging research facility.

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have befuddled imagers, with radiologists wondering how the specialty might fit into a model seemingly focused on primary care. ACOs have been a hot topic for several years, and generate many unanswered questions. How will the model differ from health maintenance organizations? What methods will they use to cut spending? The answers remain elusive, but with more than 200 ACOs in various stages of operation in the U.S., its time for radiologists to take charge of defining imagings role in the ACO model.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard on Sept. 10 sentenced Steven Beumel, RT, to 30 years in federal prison for intentionally spreading hepatitis C at the Mayo Clinics interventional radiology unit.

Annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $15,745 in 2012, up 4 percent from 2011, with workers on average paying $4,316 toward the cost of their coverage, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Educational Trust 2012 Employer Health Benefits Survey.

Kaleida Healths Gates Vascular Institute has installed the Vantage Titan 3T MR system from Toshiba America Medical Systems.

Payers and employers seeking strategies for lowering costs for nonemergency procedures, such as cardiac surgery and imaging tests such as colonoscopy, may want to consider two insurance benefits designs, based on a report in the September issue of Health Affairs. Reference pricing and centers-of-excellence contracting offer two different approaches for motivating beneficiaries to choose low-cost, high-quality care, according to the authors.

A survey conducted by the American College of Radiology (ACR) Commission on Human Resources has found the radiology workforce needs in the near future will be similar to numbers seen in 2011, with no substantial increase or reduction in job openings.