You hear about it on the radio, on TV and see it in the health system newsletter. Your facility has bought in or is close to sending out an RFP. The buzz is all about digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT). Experts weigh in on its prowess, performance and power in cutting recalls. Is it ready for [...]
Age catches up with us all at some point. For the Baby Boomers, that point is arriving year after year, with 10,000 Americans turning 65 every day from now until 2030. It’s no secret our elderly population will grow to levels never before seen in the U.S. Meanwhile, the obesity epidemic rages on and other [...]
The Obama administration's top Medicare official is stepping down from his post. CMS Principal Deputy Administrator Jonathan Blum has been with the agency for more than five years. CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner announced Blum's resignation, effective May 16, in an e-mail to staff. Read more here.
The use of business analytics may be a relatively new phenomenon in medicine, but it has been used to great effect in other industries for quite some time. Read more here.
SPECT emerged as the winner in a head-to-head comparison of cost outcomes for patients evaluated for coronary artery disease (CAD) after a two-year follow-up. The cost of subsequent invasive procedures made rivals PET and coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) more expensive. Read more here.
Breast cancer screening programs in Switzerland should be wound down, as screening does not clearly produce more benefits than harms, according to an editorial by two members of the Swiss Medical Board published on 16 April in the New England Journal of Medicine. Read more here.
Although one of the main goals of the Meaningful Use program is to improve the quality of care, there appears to be "no association" between being a "meaningful user" of electronic health records and the quality of care provided to patients, according to a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. Read more here.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) increased among hospitals and health systems in 2013, according to a new analysis by Kaufman Hall. Last year, hospitals and health systems announced 98 new combinations, a 3 percent increase from the previous year and a 51 percent increase from 2010, the analysis found. Read more here.
In an innovative and dynamic period for the healthcare industry, high CEO turnover, leaders from outside the traditional realm and C-suite changes bring new skills and fresh blood into hospitals and healthcare systems, according to a Hospitals & Health Networks post by Mary Grayson. Read more here.
The Medicare program is the source of a small fortune for many U.S. doctors, according to a trove of government records that reveal unprecedented details about physician billing practices nationwide. The government insurance program for older people paid nearly 4,000 physicians in excess of $1 million each in 2012, according to the new data. Those figures [...]