The Physician Hospitals of America (PHA), which represents physician-owned hospitals, has rejected the American Hospital Association, Federation of American Hospitals and Catholic Health Association's agreement with the White House last week to reduce Medicare hospital spending by $155 billion, indicating it could destroy "physician-owned hospitals as a quid pro quo for the Medicare cost savings."

ProUroCare Medical is developing and testing its ProUroScan imaging system to determine if it can map the prostate to identify abnormalities detected by a digital rectal exam.

There are marked geographical variations in patients' access to radiotherapy across England, as well as important differences in treatment capacity, according to a Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) survey published in the July edition of Clinical Oncology.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has added new information to the Hospital Compare Web site that reports how frequently patients return to a hospital after being discharged, as a possible indicator of how well the facility did the first time around.

Hospitals would be able to bill Medicare for pulmonary and intensive cardiac rehabilitation services furnished in outpatient departments beginning Jan. 1, 2010 under a proposed rule issued July 1 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

A collection of hospital industry groups, accompanied by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at a White House press conference on Wednesday, agreed to accept $155 billion less in reimbursements from the federal government in an attempt to ensure that healthcare reform will be deficit-neutral.

A ProCure Proton Therapy Center for the treatment of cancer patients opened Wednesday in Oklahoma City, Okla.

A new policy statement from the American Heart Association (AHA) advocates that healthcare facilities use high-quality video conferencing systems to connect expert neurologists for rapid, remote examination and treatment of patients undergoing suspected strokes. Commentary, published in the July 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, notes that reimbursement obstacles and the necessity of establishing "stroke systems of care" for effective assessment and treatment remain.