"Evidence-based reimbursement," or structuring physician payment incentives around empirical evidence of clinical benefit, would improve the quality and reduce the cost of healthcare, according to a commentary by two cardiologists published in the March issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Clinicians in India at the Yashoda Cancer Institute in Hyderabad have performed radiotherapy treatment using RapidArc technology from Varian Medical Systems.

The Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) has opened a new phase III trial for patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma to determine if the addition of bevacizumab improves patient outcomes, compared with the current standard-of-care therapy--concurrent chemoradiation and adjuvant temozolomide.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will make $200 million of it stimulus earmarks available for large-scale biomedical, public health and healthcare delivery research projects as part of its new program, the Research and Research Infrastructure "Grand Opportunities."

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released its 2010 Medicare Advantage payment rates and Medicare Advantage and Part D prescription drug benefit payment policies.

Xoft has been granted a medical device license by the Medical Devices Bureau of Health Canada to sell and market the Axxent electronic brachytherapy system, designed to deliver localized, non-radioactive, isotope-free radiation treatment in minimally shielded clinical settings under the supervision of a radiation oncologist.

Although the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) provides an unprecedented $19 billion program to promote the adoption and use of health IT and electronic health records, spurring adoption will probably require more than financial carrots and sticks, according to David Blumenthal, MD, recently named as national coordinator for health IT.

CHICAGO--Updating to ICD-10-CM/PCS is a necessary step in realizing the anticipated benefits of health IT, according to Sue Bowman, director of coding policy and compliance at the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), who made a presentation Monday at the annual meeting of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS).