Management

This page includes content on healthcare management, including health system, hospital, department and clinic business management and administration. Areas of focus are on cardiology and radiology department business administration. Subcategories covered in this section include healthcare economics, reimbursement, leadership, mergers and acquisitions, policy and regulations, practice management, quality, staffing, and supply chain.

Siemens nets $267M defense contract for imaging systems

Siemens Medical Solutions has won a contract to supply radiology systems, subsystems and components to the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and federal civilian agencies.

Toshiba installs Aquilion One at Arkansas pediatric hospital

Arkansas Children's Hospital has installed Toshiba America Medical Systems' Aquilion One, a 320-detector row CT system.

U.K. sets pregnancy imaging guidelines

Pregnant women should not undergo some types of medical exams that involve high doses of radiation to the fetus due to the small increased risk of causing childhood cancer, according to guidance developed by the Health Protection Agency (HPA), The Royal College of Radiologists and the College of Radiographers in the United Kingdom.

Stimulating IT Spending

As you know, investment and enrichment in EMRs is the focus of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009which allocates a whopping $19.2 billion to health IT. The numbers have been well-publicized, with $17.2 billion being funneled through the Medicare and Medicaid programs to help providers adopt EHRs and another $2 billion earmarked for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC). Outside the direct contributions to pay for IT systems, there is another $10.4 million in related spending, according to HIMSS, for telecommunications, broadband and telemedicine.

ACS releases new service for smartphone management

Affiliated Computer Services (ACS) has launched ACS Managed Mobility Services, a centralized solution for managing all aspects of smartphones, including procurement, security and expense management.

Remote Reading: Practice Extender, Not Practice Extinction

Ten years ago, the American College of Radiology surveyed nearly 1,000 practices as to their utilization of teleradiology. They found that 71 percent of multi-radiologist practices had teleradiology systems in place, while 30 percent of solo practices had deployed remote reading systems.

Taking Care of the Caregiver: Ergonomics in the Reading Room

Sit up straight. It may have been nagging advice from your Mom, but its good advice for the radiologist who sits in a digital reading room often for hours at a time. So is putting your feet flat on the floor and maintaining the proper angle of your elbows and hands on the keyboard and eyes to the monitor. Read on. Heeding good advice can ward off musculoskeletal problems that plague the profession.

Voice Recognition: Plugged In to Savings

Healthcare spending in the United States has increased dramatically in the last decade and radiology has been singled out as a main culprit. As imaging volumes increase, reimbursement decreases and competition sharpens, radiology practices and departments must make more effective use of the data and technology available today. Voice recognition (VR) software solutions can help reduce costs, increase efficiency and improve patient care.

Around the web

Harvard’s David A. Rosman, MD, MBA, explains how moving imaging outside of hospitals could save billions of dollars for U.S. healthcare.

Back in September, the FDA approved GE HealthCare’s new PET radiotracer, flurpiridaz F-18, for patients with known or suspected CAD. It is seen by many in the industry as a major step forward in patient care. 

After three years of intermittent shortages of nuclear imaging tracer technetium-99m pyrophosphate, there are no signs of the shortage abating.