Although the final regulations regarding the shared savings program (SSP) between Medicare and accountable care organizations (ACOs) addresses shortcomings in earlier proposed regulations that may have made ACO entry too difficult for providers, participation in ACOs and the SSP still may not appeal to providers.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has confirmed the recent downward trend in Medicare spending and utilization on medical imaging procedures and said imaging services declined by 2.5 percent in 2010.

The FDA has released draft guidance aimed at increasing the number of women participating in clinical trials for medical devices.

Medical device makers are counting on financial stratagemsbuybacks, dividends, acquisitions and the liketo keep shareholders happy in the face of flat sales figures. The drop in demand owes in large part to belt-tightening at hospitals, tougher approval procedures at the FDA, declining medical coverage under health-insurance plans and a weak global economy.

Individuals with the lung cancer-susceptibility gene Ki-ras may be more susceptible to radiation-induced cancers than individuals who dont express the mutation, according to animal model research published in the December issue of Radiation Research. In the wake of the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), which linked annual CT screening with a 20 percent mortality reduction, researchers from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., sought to determine the carcinogenic risk of annual CT screening exams.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a proposed rule Dec. 13 that will increase public awareness of financial relationships between drug and device manufacturers and certain healthcare providers. This is a provision under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Four experts attempted to set straight the record on accelerated partial breast brachytherapy (APBI) after a Dec. 7 presentation by MD Anderson researchers at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, which concluded that APBI is associated with inferior effectiveness and increased toxicity compared with whole breast irradiation in older women. The researchers outlined numerous flaws ranging from the data source to study design to omitted information, during a teleconference on Dec. 13.

Reps. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., and Anna G. Eshoo, D-Calif., introduced legislation to the U.S. House of Representatives to amend the Social Security Act to assist Medicaid providers in being paid in an appropriate timeframe.