Diagnostic Imaging Scan - February 26, 2008 - (Page 4) Zeego complements existing 2D and 3D capabilities with industrial robotics adapted to medical applications. DeJarnette Research Systems will unveil Feb. 23 to 28 at the annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference a program to make it easier for offsite data storage providers to enter the medical image backup and disaster recovery market. DeJarnette’s Offsite Healthcare Archive Partner Program will provide the expertise in workflow, practices, and procedures in medical imaging in order to allow storage service providers to concentrate on their core competencies, according to the company. CoActiv will show upgrades to its web-based enterprise EXAMPACS at the HIMSS conference. These include a web-based RIS, features that digitize data, and color coding that indicates when studies were performed. Radiology benefits manager American Imaging Management is promoting increased awareness of radiation dose among physicians and patients to encourage the most effective use of advanced imaging procedures such as CT and PET. A new interactive tool on its website provides dose information for specific procedures. PeOPLe M. Thomas Boon has taken the helm of digital radiography vendor Imaging Dynamics. Boon replaces Darryl Stein, who stepped down as president and CEO in December 2007 and resigned this month as a board director. The new chief exec, a 35year veteran of companies that include Agfa and Kodak, most recently served as vice president of global sales and marketing at Del Medical Systems Group. John Wilhoite will become chief financial officer and treasurer of PACS provider Emageon effective March 31. Wilhoite, who will succeed Randy Pittman as CFO, has served as Emageon’s controller and vice president of finance since March 2006. Previously, Wilhoite served as CFO of Telairity Semiconductor, a maker of broadcast and professional video products. ability to analyze data after patient discharge, improved productivity, and ultimately better diagnosis, according to Parhar. The company is touting the transducers as the smallest on the market, a particular advantage when imaging infants and children. Parhar and his team are promoting specific probe features as well. The new microconvex probe is positioned as a first-of-its-kind transducer for imaging the abdomen and guiding radiofrequency ablations; the endocavitary probe is touted as a support for transvaginal ob/gyn procedures and prostate imaging; and the linear transducer is promoted as a tool for imaging the testes, thyroid, and breasts. Exam data can be viewed with Toshiba’s new Ultrasound Multiview Off-line Review Workstation software, which was developed with McKesson. The software runs on a McKesson PACS workstation and frees the Xario and Aplio for data acquisition, Parhar said. “With reimbursement changes such as the Deficit Reduction Act, people are being asked to do more with less,” he said. “This is our way of being able to extend that capability to our customers.” diac imaging? The relative cost of this type of imaging is a prime reason. What they fail to consider is that heart disease is the main cause of death in the U.S. But let’s look at their underlying rationale for targeting cardiac imaging: usage. If this denominator is applied, then any radiological application that gains traction is, by definition, fair game. So, in effect, the success of an imaging technology makes it a target for attack—hardly a scientific methodology. And yet these medical raiders may seek to use scientific methods as their justification for slashing costs. One is outcomes research, which, by its very definition, is not suited to the evaluation of a diagnostic technology. Trampling a whole field of medical imaging, as is happening in cardiovascular imaging, or a technology, such as cardiac CT angiography, is not the answer. Instead, an examination is needed as to why technologies experience sudden surges in popularity. Do they provide information not otherwise available that helps patient management? Do they replace more expensive tests? Perhaps most important, do they help achieve a greater goal? The battle over coronary CTA may be central to the fight against heart disease. The question that should be asked when evaluating any new tool is whether it assists in this fight, and if so, by how much? If CT colonography grows rapidly in popularity, it—like coronary CTA—could become vulnerable to the swashbucklers in green visors. Yet its broad acceptance, made possible by diffuse reimbursement, might accomplish exactly what healthcare advocates want to happen: widespread screening for colon cancer, now held in check by a less-thanappealing optical approach. Do radiology managers have a role in guiding the acceptance of coronary CTA and, by extension, other imaging tools? Emphatically, yes. They should not do so with the goal of cutting expenditures, but to find the best means for helping patients. Seeking ways to hamstring emerging technologies because they are attracting converts to it is not medical governance—it’s piracy aimed at targets of opportunity. commentary arGH! Pirates PreParinG to board! By GREG FREIHERR The archetypical pirate— parrot squawking on his shoulder, flintlock on his belt, the Jolly Roger flapping in the wind—is one we recognize from the movies, of course. But real life has a way of one-upping Hollywood. Pirates are among us, and in radiology of all places. Just imagine a numbers cruncher in a green visor instead of an eyepatch, if you will. These pirates raid the coffers of radiology under the flag of temperance and patient welfare. Their goal, they say, is to root out overutilization of radiological procedures, and provide guidance so that primary care physicians prescribe only essential ones. But probe a little deeper and you may find an agenda that goes beyond trimming waste and abuse. The instrument in the hands of some “radiology managers” is more meat cleaver than dagger and the target is a broad swath of imaging. Such is the case with the managers who have set their sights on the field of cardiac imaging. Why car- Copyright © 1991-2008 CMP Healthcare Media Group LLC February 26, 2008
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