Healthcare Imaging & IT - July 2008 - (Page 8)

news updaTe Government Watch House bill encourages providers to use lowest possible radiation dose with children A resolution supporting the effort to reduce the radiation dose used in the imaging of children was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., along with Reps. Lois Capps, DCalif., Steve Israel, D-N.Y., and Deborah Pryce, R-Ohio, the co-chairs of the Congressional Cancer Caucus, sponsored the House bill, H.R. 1216. The ACR said that children are more sensitive to radiation from imaging scans than adults, and cumulative radiation exposure to their smaller, developing bodies could, over time, have adverse effects. fda spoTlighT  regulatory changes for ffdm systems proposed The FDA has issued a draft guidance proposing the reclassification of its regulations for full-field digital mammography (FFDM) systems and is seeking public comment and suggestions on the new proposed requirements through August 28.  fda reduces number of warning letters The number of warning letters issued by the FDA has dropped by half in the past 10 years, which could indicate a change in enforcement tactics. In 2001, the agency issued 1,032 warning letters. In 2006, FDA data account for 538 sent letters, and in 2007, 471 sent letters. ONCHIT hires tech firm to tackle medical identity theft The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONCHIT) has awarded approximately $450,000 to Booz Allen Hamilton, a strategy and consulting technology firm, to assess and evaluate the scope of the U.S. medical identity theft problem. The purpose of the project is to consider the intersection of health IT and medical identity theft, including examining how health IT can be used to detect and prevent medical identity theft.  more clinical trial investigators barred The FDA has disqualified seven doctors from conducting clinical trials of drugs and medical devices this year, as many as in the three previous years combined. A disqualified clinical investigator is not eligible to receive investigational drugs, biologics or devices. HHS picks 12 communities for EHR incentive HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt has named 12 communities to participate in a u.S. Medicare demonstration project that will provide incentive payments to physicians for using a certified EHR system to improve the quality of patient care. Over the five-year demonstration project, financial incentives will be provided to as many as 1,200 primary-care physician practices in the selected communities that use certified EHRs to improve quality as measured by their performance on specific clinical quality measures.  CMS issues advisory opinion on sharing propriety software The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released an advisory opinion allowing for hospitals to pay for the creation of electronic interfaces between their EMR systems and physician offices without violating the self-referral prohibitions of the Stark law. Specifically, a hospital system can pay for the creation of an electronic interface between unique EHR systems of individual physician practices and the hospital network’s EHR system, according to the CMS advisory opinion. 8 Health Imaging & IT | July 2008 Microsoft launches IT architecture, web services for HHS Microsoft has released technology architecture and a web services framework for the Connected HHS Framework, designed to improve connections among government agencies that use similar processes in delivering services to their constituents and improve the coordination of business processes among those agencies. CORRECTION: The clinical images on page 14 in the June article “Great Expectations: PET/CT Delivers” should have been attributed to a Philips Gemini TF PET/CT scanner. fda, ama promote physician drug, device notification system The FDA, the American Medical Association, physician specialty groups, drug and device manufacturers and liability insurers are promoting a new online earlywarning system that moves doctors ahead in the queue for drug and device notifications. The system, Health Care Notification Network (HCNN), currently has more than 100,000 physicians enrolled. STAY CONNECTED: For daily news, log onto HealthImaging.com HealthImaging.com http://HealthImaging.com http://HealthImaging.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare Imaging & IT - July 2008

Healthcare Imaging & IT - July 2008 On the Web The Enterprise News Update Convention Spotlight: AHRA 2008 Cover Story: Driving Metrics to Drive Business: Digital Dashboards Deliver Mammography CAD Comes of Age Breast MR CAD: Earlier Detection, Increased Efficiency Lung CAD Earning a Spot in Day-to-Day Practice Colon CAD: Breaking Down Barriers Modality Review: Cardiac CT Angiography: A Clear Pathway to Better Cardiac Patient Management Practice Management: RIS Rights Efficiency & Productivity Wrongs In Practice: Advanced Visualization Across the Enterprise Regulatory Update: Beware: Recovery Audit Contractors Poised for Permanent Status Technology Outlook: Compressing Images for Remote Transmission Reader's Resource Stat Sheet

Healthcare Imaging & IT - July 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.