CHICAGO--Genetic considerations should be factored into the clinical treatment and screening for breast cancer, said Bruce G. Haffty, MD, during the annual oration in radiation oncology at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) conference on Wednesday.

The U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) issued an October report on the Centers for the Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) saying that pervasive deficiencies in CMS contract management internal control increases the risk of improper payments or waste.

An inappropriate definition" of meaningful use and inefficient administration of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs will lead to failed implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), resulting in the needless squandering of resources and significant disruption to the U.S. healthcare system, according to a letter written to David Blumenthal, MD, from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA).

Short-term follow-up is a reasonable alternative to biopsy of palpable breast lesions with benign imaging features, particularly for young women with probable fibroadenoma, according to a study published in the December edition of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), in a report issued last week, charged the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center with eight violations relating to a series of bungled brachytherapy treatments for prostate cancer in which 98 men received incorrect radiation doses.

In achieving local control within patients with pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors, radiation therapy (RT) is a an effective treatment, according to a study published Nov. 15 in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to pass H.R. 3961, the Medicare Physician Payment Act, 243-183, altering the way Medicare pays physicians and preventing a scheduled 21.2 percent rate decrease set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2010.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have significantly revised their calculations of Medicare fee-for-service error rates in 2009.