Physicians should educate themselves on their potential role in an accountable care organization (ACO) model and make sure they know their options before the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approves ACOs for the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) beginning next year, according to an article in the September issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

Hospitals in Louisiana employ more than 99,350 people and contribute $4.4 billion annually in payroll, according to an analysis by the Louisiana Hospital Association released Sept. 22. But cuts in Medicaid payment could lead to the loss of approximately 6,764 jobs and $258 million in earnings statewide, according to the report, Hospitals and the Louisiana Economy, 2011.

Indiana University (IU) Healths stroke telemedicine service has selected aycans teleradiology system.

Many primary care physicians in the U.S. believe their own patients are receiving too much medical care, according to the results of a survey published in the Sept. 26 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Reps. Dave Reichert, (R-Wash.), Jim Matheson, (D-Utah), Pete Olson, ( R-Texas), and Bill Pascrell, (D-N.J.) introduced H.R. 3032, the Medicare Access to Radiology Care Act of 2011, Sept. 22. The bill would require the Medicare program to recognize radiologist assistants (RAs) as non-physician providers of healthcare services to Medicare beneficiaries.

As part of its strategy to prepare for ICD-10 and ANSI 5010 regulations, Indiana University Health (IU Health) Bloomington and Paoli Hospital recently went live on the McKessons Horizon Patient Folder electronic documentation management system.

Does an expansion of health insurance increase or decrease use of the emergency department (ED)? Both possibilities can be justified, according to a perspective published in the New England Journal of Medicine Sept. 7. On the one hand, research on patient cost sharing predicts that reducing the out-of-pocket costs of an ED visit and expanding insurance coverage, especially in the face of physician shortages, could result in increased ED utilization.

Healthcare costs are the new elephant in the room and providing cost-conscious care should be the seventh general competency for U.S. physicians, according to an editorial appearing in the Sept. 20 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. The approach includes reducing unnecessary imaging studies to help cut the estimated $700 billion in wasted healthcare spending annually.