Health Imaging & IT - April 2008 - (Page 8)

news updaTe Government Watch CMS maintains coverage of CCTA The Centers of Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in mid-March that no national coverage determination is appropriate for cardiac CT angiography (CCTA) to diagnose coronary artery disease at this time— and thus, Medicare reimbursement remains in tact. In a Final Decision Memo, CMS maintained the status quo that coverage should be determined by local contractors through the local coverage determination process in all 50 states or case-by-case adjudication.  agency news Joint commission urges development of a national performance data strategy The Joint Commission is creating a data infrastructure that addresses consumer expectations for data privacy, supporting a data highway that allows for data sharing, linkages and operating under an agreed-upon set of rules and governance structure. This action is to counteract the performance measurements that operate in isolation from one another, even though healthcare organizations, oversight and the public rely on this proprietary data.  [ source: terarecon ] American Cancer Society adopts virtual colonoscopy The American Cancer Society has decided to support the inclusion of virtual colonoscopy (VC) as a front-line screening exam for colorectal cancer after examining the latest published research and preliminary results of recently completed trials. VC is now included as one of several options for colorectal cancer screening and prevention in average-risk adults age 50 years and older and recommended that this population receive the procedure once every five years. This is the first-ever joint consensus guidelines for colorectal cancer screening, released by the ACS, the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the U.S. Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal Cancer. fda panel tackles cad effectiveness for breast cancer The FDA’s Radiological Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory convened to hear testimony from industry experts about the effectiveness of computer-aided detection (CAD) and diagnosis. Participants discussed CAD devices for the lung, colon and breast, allowing for discussion the clinical value and scientific data. HHS ordered to pay Massachusetts hospitals $200M A Massachusetts hospital group has won a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in which they claimed that a change in Medicare’s wage-index calculations cost them more than $200 million. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered HHS to recalculate the state’s index, and pay the hospitals the disputed sum for the 2005 fiscal year.  ahRQ director discusses health iT, patient care Jon White, MD, director of health IT for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the U.S. agency for research on healthcare quality and safety, presented an e-seminar that focused on AHRQ’s role in helping organizations use health IT to improve patient care. White said that information governance is essential to value-driven health IT enterprises, in order to keep consumer’s needs central. Senate approves health IT bill The U.S. Senate Budget Committee approved a bipartisan amendment, sponsored by U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., and Sheldon Whitehouse, DR.I., which creates a reserve fund supporting widespread adoption of health IT and accepted best practices in clinical settings. Legislators hope the measure will improve health IT, for example, by creating better-integrated records for service members returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. The amendment creates a deficit-neutral reserve fund to accommodate legislation that provides incentives or other support for adoption of modern health IT. 8 Health Imaging & IT | april 2008 MedPAC to Congress, CMS: Improve quality, control expenditures In a report to Congress, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) has concluded that Congress and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will need to make changes across a broad front to increase quality, slow the growth in Medicare expenditures and address Medicare’s long-term sustainability. The 2008 Medicare Payment Policy report focuses on policy recommendations that create incentives for greater efficiency, reward quality, and modify payment rates to private plans and providers. STAY CONNECTED: for daily news, log onto Healthimaging.com Healthimaging.com http://Healthimaging.com http://Healthimaging.com

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Health Imaging & IT - April 2008 Contents On the Web The Enterprise News Update Cracking Down: CT Radiation Dose 3D Rendering: Options Galore Thinking Thin-Client Modality Review Ergonomics & Design Special Section: Storage Strategies Imaging Tools Technology Outlook People & Technology Technology Review IT Trends Reader's Resource Stat Sheet

Health Imaging & IT - April 2008

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