Promising data from a variety of ongoing clinical trials has encouraged the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) to publish a consensus statement outlining patient selection criteria and best practices for the use of accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI). The consensus statement provides guidance to physicians seeking to implement the protocol outside the context of clinical trials The standard of care for breast cancer patients, post-lumpectomy, is whole-breast irradiation (WBI). Typically it takes six to seven weeks, and treats the entire breast along with some underlying ribs, muscles, a crescent of lung, sometimes a bit of heart, and all the skin on the breast. APBI does not treat the entire breast. It focuses on the part of the breast where the tumor was removed. It can be delivered via either brachytherapy or with 3D conformal external radiation beam techniques.

UnitedHealth Group and Cisco are partnering to build a national telehealth network, which will give patients access to physicians and specialists when in-person visits are not possible. The new Connected Care program combines audio and video technology and health resources to expand physicians' reach into underserved areas. UnitedHealth has committed tens of millions of dollars toward the new initiative.

The American Society for Therapeutic Radiolgy and Oncology (ASTRO) has published a consensus statement outlining patient selection criteria and best practices for the use of accelerated partial breast irradiation outside the context of a clinical trial in the July 15 issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics.

As lawmakers debate how to pay for an overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system, a report from the Commonwealth Fund projects that including both private and public insurance choices in a new insurance exchange would save the United States as much as $265 billion in administrative costs from 2010 to 2020.

A federal judge in Houston has unsealed whistleblower lawsuits alleging that Boston Scientific, Medtronic, St. Jude Medical and four other manufacturers engaged in Medicare fraud -- including illegal kickbacks -- regarding the sale of cardiac surgical ablation devices to treat atrial fibrillation, according to Pioneer Press.

Stroke in children costs at least $42 million annually in the U.S., researchers reported in this month's edition of Stroke.

In a recent three-year period, 30-day risk-standardized mortality rates for acute MI and heart failure (HF) varied among hospitals and across the country, according to research published online July 9 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

The Imaging Radiology Oncology Association (IROA) has been formed to represent independent diagnostic testing facilities, radiologists and oncologists.