On September 19th, the U.S. Senate passed an amended version of the Responsible Helium Administration and Stewardship Act, or HR 527, which was approved by the House of Representatives earlier this year. It still needs to be officially signed into law, but this is a major step to averting a helium shortage that had been looming [...]
The U.S. Joint Commission has proposed more-stringent requirements in the ambulatory care, critical access hospital, and hospital accreditation programs for facilities that provide CT, MRI, nuclear medicine, and PET services. "Research has indicated that the current Joint Commission requirements need to be enhanced to address several significant quality- and safety-related issues associated with diagnostic imaging," [...]
The financial outlook for hospitals under healthcare reform initially appears rocky but may perk up with time. Medical devices makers, on the other hand, should brace for difficulties, according to a report published July 17 by Moody’s Investors Service. Read more here.
Hospitals lost 4,400 jobs in July, and downward revisions wiped out most of June’s gains. Over the last three months, hospitals have lost 13,000 jobs. Read more here.
After years of growth, the utilization rate for MRI exams in the Medicare population fell 3.2 percent between 2008 and 2010, according to a study published in the August issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology. Read it here.
Two-thirds of the nation's hospitals will get hit with fines in the second round of Medicare's readmission penalties, according to data released Friday by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. For the upcoming year, 2,225 of the nation's 5,700 hospitals will receive payment reductions totaling $227 million starting on Oct. 1. Read about it here.
U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) and Angus King (I-Maine) have joined together to introduce nonpartisan legislation that would direct the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to more accurately reflect the cost-savings of preventive healthcare, including screenings. Read more here.
Many older smokers and former smokers should undergo annual CT scans for lung cancer, an influential health panel recommended for the first time Monday, suggesting that early detection of the leading cause of cancer deaths could save more than 20,000 lives every year. Read more here.
Following the Washington Post, 7/20 article, How a secretive panel uses data that distort doctors’ pay, legislators submit bill to reshape the way reimbursement for medical procedures is formulated. As reported in the Washington Post, July 23rd, Bill aims to reshape medical pricing, Peter Whoriskey writes, "A bipartisan group of legislators has drafted a bill that would reshape the way the nation pays [...]
On July 20, 2013, Peter Whoriskey and Dan Keating of The Washington Post wrote an article that describes how a panel of doctors within the AMA work in conjunction with Medicare to establish the value for medical procedures. The authors suggest there is less than an arms-length relationship and there may be the appearance of bias on the [...]