Dear AuntMinnie Member,
How is medical imaging technology being used during the COVID-19 pandemic? A new international survey that documents the variation in imaging utilization was the top story on AuntMinnie.com for the past week.
Researchers surveyed 50 radiology departments across 33 countries to find out how they employed imaging for detecting and managing the disease, particularly in people who had severe symptoms or were critically ill. They found that chest x-ray was the most widely performed exam, followed closely by chest CT. Learn more in an article in our CT Community.
In other CT news, researchers from New York City found that patients with COVID-19 were more likely to have thromboembolism than those without the disease. The findings highlight the variety of clinical consequences of COVID-19 beyond just the lung.
Get these stories and more in our CT Community.
AI gets paid
In other news, one of the biggest stories in radiology in the last few weeks has been the decision by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide a reimbursement code to pay for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze imaging exams.
There are a few caveats. The code is part of the agency's new technology add-on payment program, and it is only good for the next three years. Also, it only applies to an AI algorithm for CT angiography exams from one particular vendor.
But the move indicates that CMS is serious about providing an economic rationale for the use of AI, addressing one of the major issues holding back clinical adoption of the technology. And many industry observers are agog at the payment level the agency set -- up to $1,040 per patient.
Read Senior Editor Erik L. Ridley's article in our Artificial Intelligence Community.
Virtual conference on demand
Speaking of artificial intelligence, were you able to attend our Fall 2020 Virtual Conference, "AI, Enterprise Imaging & Beyond," on September 22-23?
If not, don't despair -- all the talks from AMVC 2020 are available on demand at auntminnie.vfairs.com. You can view everything, from Dr. Eliot Siegel's keynote talk on how AI can reshape radiology in the post-COVID-19 era to Dr. Cheryl Petersilge's discussion of the importance of enterprise imaging. To get started, just log in to the virtual environment and, once inside, click on the "Auditorium" link.
If you're more interested in reading about the talks, you can visit our Artificial Intelligence Community for our coverage of the virtual meeting. Our coverage of Dr. Siegel's talk is available as a two-part story. The first article addresses how AI will help radiologists deal with challenges related to remote practice and variation in imaging volume, and the second focuses on how AI can improve efficiency and reduce stress for radiologists.
You'll also find a story covering Dr. Sonia Gupta's talk on what radiologists can do to dispel the narrative that AI is a threat to radiologists' jobs.
