Dear AuntMinnie Member,
We're pleased to announce the launch of the 2012 edition of Road to RSNA, AuntMinnie.com's comprehensive preview of the RSNA 2012 annual meeting.
Road to RSNA has everything you need to know to plan your upcoming visit to Chicago -- organized by modality to make it easy for you to find the information you need.
Our first sections cover PACS and CT. In PACS, you'll find a wealth of presentations, including sessions on meaningful use in radiology, mobile imaging, and image sharing. Just click here to see what's hot.
In CT, you'll find (perhaps unsurprisingly) that radiation dose management will be a major point of discussion in Chicago. Other new technologies to be highlighted include dual-energy imaging, lung cancer screening, and coronary CT angiography. Get the rest of the details by clicking here.
For more preview coverage of RSNA 2012, visit our RSNA preview section at radcast.auntminnie.com as we roll out new sections in the weeks to come.
Medical radiation still a hazard
In other news, nonprofit medical technology research organization ECRI yesterday released its annual list of top 10 health hazards, and once again medical radiation is near the top.
Last year, medical radiation from CT was listed as a top hazard; this year, ECRI changed its language slightly to highlight radiation from all diagnostic imaging sources. The group noted that while acute burns and other emergencies are rare, it's becoming increasingly difficult to control patient radiation exposure as imaging technologies become more advanced and more pervasive in healthcare.
Other hazards related to radiology include patient/data mismatches in healthcare IT systems, interoperability failures between medical devices and healthcare IT, and caregiver distractions when using smartphones and other devices. See the entire list by clicking here.
2013 imaging cuts
Finally, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its 2013 payment rates last week, and there wasn't much to like for radiology.
In addition to announcing the payment cut due to the sustainable growth rate formula (which absent some kind of political meltdown will most likely be postponed again by Congress), the agency also detailed its plans for changing physician reimbursement next year.
The changes include an expansion of the controversial multiple procedure payment reduction, although radiation oncology practices are breathing easier after CMS reduced the size of a proposed payment reduction for their specialty by half. Read more by clicking here.
